BBY, HOC up on losing day in London

European equities markets were lower Wednesday on bad economic news out of the United States as the Institute for Supply Management reported that new factory orders were down in April by more than anticipated and after ADP Employer Services said that the US private sector lost 532,000 jobs in May.

The FTSE 100 was down 2.09 percent to 4,383.42 in London, while the FTSE 250 fell 1.08 percent to 7,688.19.

The best performer on the 100 was construction and engineering group Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY), which added 2.15 percent, while over on the 250 oil and gas explorer Heritage Oil (LSE: HOC) added 10.38 percent.

Miners were lower as Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) led decliners on the 100 with a drop of 7.97 percent while Xstrata (LSE: XTA) dropped 6.43 percent.

Over on the 250, real estate developer Shaftsbury (LSE: SHB) turned in the worst performance as it declined 7.49 percent, but homebuilder Taylor Wimpey added 6.67 percent on the session.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 2.01 percent to 868.1 while the Dax fell 1.74 percent to 5,054.53, the CAC-40 was 2.02 percent lower to 3,309.65 and the IBEX dropped 2.07 percent to 9,464.8.

There was only one winner on the CAC-40, where media conglomerate Vivendi (Euronext: VIV) added 0.27 percent while the Dax managed only three winners, led by drug maker Bayer (FWB: BAY; TYO: 4863) with a gain of 1.5 percent.

Carmakers were lower as Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) fell 3.54 percent, Peugeot (Euronext: UG) was down 3.41 percent and Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) dropped 5.98 percent.

Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) was down 4.27 percent in the wake of confirmation that one of its passenger flights had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Retailer Metro (FWB: MEO) was the biggest decliner on the Dax as it fell 6.47 percent, while construction and media conglomerate Bouygues (Euronext: EN) led losers on the CAC-40 as it dropped 7.94 percent after profits dropped by 55 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region, on the other hand, were mostly higher on hopes that economic conditions are getting better after the Australian economy expanded in the first quarter with 0.4 percent growth of its gross domestic product.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.55 percent to 4,009.3 while the S&P/ASX200 was up 1.56 percent to 4,017.2.

Tokyo’s markets were also higher as the Nikkei 225 gained 0.38 percent to 9,741.67, the Topix index was up 0.1 percent to 914.5 and the Mothers market added 0.77 percent to 402.

Other gainers in the region included the Kospi, which added 0.14 percent to 1,414.89 while the Straits Times Index was up 0.34 percent to 2,383.82, the Hang Seng added 1.02 percent to 18,576.47 and Shanghai Composite gained 1.99 percent to 2,778.59.

The Sensex was 0.03 percent lower to 14,870.9 while the Taiex dropped 0.8 percent to 6,893.14.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.43 percent lower to 8,615.82 in afternoon trade in New York, while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.31 percent to 1,812.79 and the S&P 500 had dropped 2 percent to 925.82.

The news that the US services sector contracted in May and that the private sector lost 532,000 jobs in the same month helped drive markets lower, as did declines in oil prices and gains for the US dollar.

Inventories that were unexpectedly up last week and prices that declined during the session sent shares in oil companies lower, with ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) down 1.7 percent at just after 2:30 p.m. in New York while at the same time Chevron (NSYE: CVX) was 2.34 percent lower and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) dropped 18.39 percent.

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