Grocers MRW, SBRY, TSCO all see gains

European equities markets saw gains Wednesday.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent to 4,416.23 while the FTSE 250 was up 0.77 percent to 7,588.05.

Most retailers were higher, with supermarkets among the winners as Wm. Morrison (LSE: MRW) added 1.53 percent, J. Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) was up 1.65 percent and Tesco (LSE: TSCO) gained 2.84 percent.

Travel related shares did well on the 100 as InterContinental Hotels Group (LSE: IHG; NYSE: IHG) was 5.97 percent higher as it turned in the best performance of the session there, while travel agent Thomas Cook Group (LSE: TCG) added 4 percent.

Over on the 250, broadcaster ITV (LSE: ITV) gained 12.5 percent in the best performance of the day on that index, while soft drink producer Britvic (LSE: BVIC) lost the most as it dropped 5.34 percent.

Miners were mixed as Lonmin (LSE: LMI) turned in the worst performance of the day on the 100 with a decline of 4.06 percent, followed closely by Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), which dropped 4.03 percent, but over on the 250 Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) added 11.08 percent on the session.

Elsewhere in the region, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.64 percent to 870.65 while the Dax added 0.3 percent to 5,000.77, the CAC-40 was 0.76 percent higher to 3.294.86 and the IBEX gained 1.12 percent to 9,510.8.

Banks were lower on the CAC-40 as Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) fell 1.15 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) dropped 1.43 percent.

Carmkers were mixed as BMW (FWB: BMW) added 2.97 percent on the Dax and Peugeot (Euronext: UG) was up 3.12 percent on the CAC-40, but Volkswagen was the biggest loser of the session on the Dax as it dropped 3.73 percent.

Steelmakers were higher in Germany as ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) added 2.37 percent and Salzgitter (FWB: SZG) was 4.54 percent higher for the best performance of the day on the Dax.

The CAC-40’s best performer was aerospace group EADS (Euronext: EAD; FWB: EAD), which added 5.61 percent, while drinks maker Pernod Ricard (Euronext: RI) had the worst day on the Paris index as it dropped 1.71 percent.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on the session, some significantly so, but South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.73 percent to 1,362.93 as North Korea made more threats, including a threat to attack South Korea if it persisted in aiding US-led searches of North Korean ships suspected of carrying equipment that could be used to assemble weapons of mass destruction.

Tokyo markets were higher, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.37 percent to 9,438.77 while the Topix index added 1.03 percent to 892.85 and the Mothers market gained 0.07 percent to 375.53.

Exporters and the technology sector were helped by new, positive data released yesterday on consumer confidence in the United States, but gains were limited by concerns over the situation in North Korea and what looks to be an imminent bankruptcy filing by US automaker General Motors (NYSE: GM).

Gains also came despite new numbers showing that exports from Japan, while not as bad as had been anticipated, were down 39.1 percent in April compared to the same month last year.

Automobile manufacturer Toyota (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) was up 2.8 percent while chip-testing equipment maker Advantest (TYO: 6857; NYSE: ATE) added 2.8 percent.

Miners and smelters were lower on profit-taking.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.34 percent to 3801.1 and the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.36 percent to 3,795.3 while the Shanghai Composite was 1.71 percent higher to 2,632.93, the Straits Times Index gained 3.01 percent to 2,306.8, the Taiex was up 3.1 percent to 6,890.44, the Sensex added 3.83 percent to 14.109.64 and the Hang Seng gained 5.26 percent to 17,885.27.

Wall Street was mixed in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.26 percent lower to 8,451.11 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.63 percent to 1,761.38 and the S&P 500 had added 0.03 percent to 910.64.

The Dow was hurt by the news that General Motors (NYSE: GM) had not persuaded enough bondholders to agree to a swap of debt for stock and so will likely file for bankruptcy soon.

Such a move will likely result in GM being removed from the Dow 30.

GM was 16.67 percent lower in afternoon trade.

On the other hand, the Nasdaq was helped by SanDisk (NAS: SNDK) after the flash memory producer renewed its licensing agreement with Korean electronics giant Samsung (KRX: 005930).

SanDisk was up 16.49 percent before 2 p.m. in New York.

Story link: Grocers MRW, SBRY, TSCO all see gains