BAY adds 12 percent as airlines gain

Equities markets in Europe were mixed Tuesday.

Back from a bank holiday on Monday, the FTSE 100 added 2.21 percent to 4,336.94 in London while the FTSE 250 was 3.51 percent higher to 7,836.83.

British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) led gainers on the 100 as it added 12.09 percent as airlines in the region bounced back from concerns that the outbreak of H1N1 flu would decrease demand for travel.

Most miners were up, led by Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) and Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO), which each added 11.5 percent.

Banks and insurers also saw gains on the 100, while over on the 250 public transport operators National Express Group (LSE: NEX) led winners and the index with a gain of 28.81 percent.

Elsewhere in the region, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.37 percent to 845.84 and Spain’s IBEX added 0.68 percent to 8,136.7, but the CAC-40 was down 0.4 percent to 3,225 and the Dax dropped 1.01 percent to 4,853.03.

Airlines saw gains, with Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) adding 1.23 percent while Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) gained 2.3 percent.

Also in travel related sectors, hotels operator Accor (Euronext: AC) was up 0.65 percent.

Banks saw gains as BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) was up 0.98 percent, Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) added 2.44 percent and Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) was 8.2 percent higher to lead gainers on the CAC-40.

Most carmakers were also higher as Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) added 1.03 percent, BMW (FWB: BMW) was up 2.38 percent and Renault (Euronext: RNO) gained 2.99 percent, but Peugeot (Euronext: UG) was 1.75 percent lower.

Utilities were lower on the CAC-40 as EDF (Euronext: EEN) and GDF Suez (Euronext: GSZ, GSZB) each fell 2.72 percent.

Most markets that were open in the Asia-Pacific region saw gains on the session as Tokyo markets remained closed for Golden Week observances and South Korea’s markets were closed to celebrate Children’s Day.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.19 percent to 3,890.4 and the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.42 percent to 3,862.2.

The Shanghai Composite was 0.29 percent higher to 2,567.34, the Hang Seng was up 0.3 percent to 16,430.08, the Taiex added 0.78 percent to 6,379.94, and the Straits Times Index gained 2.25 percent to 2,074.35.

In India, however, the Sensex, fell 0.03 percent to 12,131.08.

Wall Street was lower at just past 1 p.m. in New York as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.24 percent to 8,406.27, the Nasdaq Composite was 1.06 percent lower to 1,744.91 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.52 percent to 902.49.

Most of the declines were blamed on profit-taking after Monday’s gains, but investors were also waiting to see the results from the government’s “stress tests” on banks, to be revealed Thursday, and ahead of a new monthly unemployment report, due Friday.

There have been reports that up to 10 banks, possibly including Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), will be asked to raise more cash based on the results of the government’s testing of 19 banks.

In afternoon trade, Wells Fargo had dropped 3.63 percent, but at the same time Bank of America was up 4.62 percent and Citigroup had added 5.31 percent.

Story link: BAY adds 12 percent as airlines gain