Miner LMI leads losers on 100

Equities markets were mixed in Europe Thursday, on a day that both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank held interest rates steady, at 0.5 percent and 1 percent respectively.

In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.08 percent to 4,386.04 but the FTSE 250 dropped 0.37 percent to 7,660.07.

Most miners were lower and the five biggest losers on the 100 were all in the sector, led by platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) with a decline of 6.62 percent and followed by Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO), which fell 6.59 percent, while Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) was down 5.9 percent, Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) was 5.29 percent lower and Eurasian Natural Resources dropped 3.78 percent.

Gains came in the real estate sector, where Liberty International (LSE: LII) lead winners on the 100 with a gain of 12 percent while Hammerson (LSE: HMSO) was up 9.29 percent and British Land (LSE: BLND) gained 3.76 percent.

Over on the 250, Great Portland Estates was 7.74 percent higher.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.18 percent to 866.56 and the IBEX dropped 0.11 percent to 8,454.6, but the CAC-40 added 0.07 percent to 3,312.03 while the Dax gained 0.2 percent to 5,064.8.

Drugmakers saw gains as Sanofi-Aventis (Euronext: SAN; NYSE: SNY) led gainers on the CAC-40, adding 3.41 percent while Bayer (FWB: BAY; TYO: 4863) was up 3.25 percent on the Dax.

Car and truck makers were mixed when Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) turned in the best performance on the Dax with a gain of 3.76 percent and Peugeot (Euronext: UG) added 2.19 percent on the CAC-40, but truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) dropped 1.7 percent.

Luxury retailers were weaker as LVMH (Euronext: MC) led losers on the CAC-40 with a decline of 2.32 percent while PPR (Euronext: PP) dropped 2.23 percent.

Airlines were also lower as Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) fell 1.59 percent and Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) dropped 1.71 percent while, still in travel-related sectors, hotels operator Accor (Euronext: AC) was 1.9 percent lower.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower, with the main exception being India’s Sensex, which added 0.93 percent to 15,008.68.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.75 percent to 9,668.96 while the Topix index fell 0.38 percent to 910.99 and the Mothers market dropped 0.94 percent to 398.23.

Shippers were lower after Mitsui OSK Lines (TYO: 9104), which dropped 3.4 percent, sad it could spin off its container shipping unit, while Kawasaki Kisen (TYO: 9107) fell 3.5 percent and Nippon Yusen (TYO: 9104) was down 4.5 percent.

Mitsubishi Motors (TYO: 7211) was 11.8 percent higher after a report that it will begin offering plug-in electric cars within four years.

The Hang Seng fell 0.4 percent to 18,502.77 while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.41 percent to 2,767.34, the Straits Times Index was 0.88 percent lower to 2,362.74, and the Taiex dropped 1.55 percent to 6,786.06.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.92 percent to 3,932.5 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 2.06 percent to 3,934.6, while the Kospi dropped 2.6 percent to 1,378.14 in South Korea.

In early afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.69 percent to 8,735 while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.98 percent to 1,843.8 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.97 percent to 940.76.

Story link: Miner LMI leads losers on 100