RBS tops 100 again

European equities markets were higher Thursday as the FTSE 100 added 1.29 percent to 4,243.71 and FTSE 250 gained 2.15 percent to 7,516.13 in London on gains for banks.

Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) led the 100 and the banking sector for the second day in a row as it added 13.59 percent, followed by Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642), which was up 9.75 percent.

Most miners were also higher as Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) led the sector with a gain of 9.98 percent.

Retailer DSG International (LSE: DSGI) led its sector higher as it turned in the best performance on the 250 with a gain of 14.67 percent, but music retailer HMV Group (LSE: HMV) dropped 4.66 percent on the session.

Real estate developer Helical Bar (LSE: HLCL) turned in the worst performance of the session on the 250 as it dropped 4.69 percent, but most of the sector saw gains.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.65 percent while the Dax and the CAC-40 each added 1.38 percent, to 4,769.45 and 3,159.85 respectively, and the IBEX gained 1.65 percent to 9,038.

Among European banks, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) added 3.21 percent while Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) was up 5.16 percent and Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) gained 7.89 percent but Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK) was 1.08 percent lower on the session.

The automobile manufacturing sector was mixed as Renault (Euronext: RNO) added 9.66 percent but BMW (FWB: BMW) led losers on the Dax as it dropped 1.87 percent.

Airlines were also mixed, with Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) adding 3.04 percent while Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) was down 0.71 percent.

After a day off for a holiday on Wednesday, Tokyo markets saw advances as the Nikkei 225 added 3.94 percent to 8,828.26, the Topix index was up 3.18 percent to 837.79 and the Mothers market gained 0.71 percent to 344.55.

New data showing that industrial production in Japan was up 1.6 percent in March, the first advance in six months helped markets higher.

Carmakers saw gains as Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) added 4.4 percent and Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) gained 7.1 percent after it said it will see a small profit this year.

The swine flu outbreak boosted surgical mask manufacturers despite the statements of many health officials that masks are of limited value in protecting against disease as Daiwabo (TYO: 3107) added 18.2 percent and Fujibo Holdings (TYO: 3104) was 39.2 percent higher.

Banks Shinsei (TYO: 8303) and Aozora (TYO: 8304), higher recently amid merger talks, were 5.1 percent and 6.1 percent lower respectively after reports that they have not been able to get leading shareholders to agree to the deal.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region the Shanghai Composite added 0.38 percent to 2,477.57 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries gained 2.26 percent to 3,744.7 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 2.31 percent to 3,780.5.

The Kospi also added 2.31 percent, to 1,369.36 while the Sensex was up 3.65 percent to 11,403.25, the Hang Seng was 3.77 percent higher to 15,520.99, and the Straits Times Index was up 3.82 percent to 1,920.28.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 6.74 percent to 5,992.57 after the government said it will allow Chinese investment there for the first time in sixty years.

Markets were mixed in early afternoon trade on Wall Street as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1 percent lower to 8,177.68 at just past 1:30 p.m. and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.08 percent to 872.94 but the Nasdaq Composite maintained a gain of 0.48 percent to 1,720.15.

The declines for the Dow and the S&P came after the news, rumored earlier that automaker Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The filing did not seem to hurt the rest of the automobile manufacturing sector, as General Motors (NYSE: GM) was 6.08 percent in afternoon trade while Ford Motor (NYSE: F) had gained 6.42 percent at the same time.

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