BARC adds 5.5 percent, leads London banks

Equities markets were higher Thursday in Europe as banks saw gains on the session.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.57 percent to 4,461.87 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.54 percent to 2,330.58.

Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) led the 100 and the London banking sector as it added 5.55 percent while Royal Bank of Scotland was not too far behind with a gain of 4.75 percent.

Miners were mixed, with silver and gold miner Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) leading the sector and the 250 as it gained 7.32 percent, while over on the 100 Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) added 3.61 percent but Anglo American (LSE: AAL) dropped 1.84 for the biggest decline in the sector.

Travel-related shares were lower as British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) fell 1.79 percent and cruise line operator Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL) dropped 2.44 percent in the biggest decline of the day on the 100.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1 percent to 888.75 while the CAC-40 added 0.59 percent to 3,334.94, the IBEX was 0.84 percent higher to 9,708.4 and the Dax gained 1.11 percent to 4,107.26.

Banks were higher as Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) added 1.36 percent and BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) gained 2.57 percent.

Motor vehicle manufacturers lead both the CAC-40 and the Dax as Renault (Euronext: RNO) was up 3.71 percent and truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) was 5.97 percent higher, while Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) added 2.67 percent.

Airlines were lower as Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) fell 1.73 percent to lead decliners on the Dax, while Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) dropped 2.78 percent.

Also in travel-related declines, hotels operator Accor (Euronext: AC) was 0.59 percent lower.

Markets were mixed in the Asia-Pacific region, a situation that was echoed in Tokyo results as the Nikkei 225 fell 0.1 percent to 9,981.33 but the Topix index was up 0.39 percent to 940.65 and the Mothers market gained 2.8 percent to 413.95.

The Nikkei briefly topped the 10,000 level but fell back to a slight loss on the session as investors worried about the possibility of rising interest rates in the US.

The steel sector saw gains after Morgan Stanley issued an upgrade for the sector from “equal-weight” to “overweight” and increased Nippon Steel’s (TYO: 5401) target share price.

Nippon Steel added 5.7 percent while Kobe Steel (TYO: 5406) was up 6 percent and JFE Holdings (TYO: 5411) gained 3.7 percent.

Gains in the region came for the Hang Seng, which added 0.03 percent to 18,791.03 while the Kospi was up 0.32 percent to 1,419.39.

In Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 0.57 percent higher to 4,047.2 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.76 percent to 4,046.7, while the Taiex added 1.63 percent to 6,567.37 in Taiwan.

Decliners included the Sensex, which was 0.36 percent lower to 15,411.47 while at the same time the Straits Times Index fell 0.39 percent to 2,381.81 and the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.67 percent to 2,797.32.

New York markets were up in afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.24 percent to 8,847,78 at just before 1:30 p.m. local time while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.11 percent higher to 1,873.57 and the S&P 500 had gained 1.5 percent to 953.2.

Story link: BARC adds 5.5 percent, leads London banks