Miners VED, HOC lead 100, 250

European equities markets were higher Wednesday as miners and most banks saw advances.

In London, the FTSE 100 was 2.15 percent higher to 4,340.71 and the FTSE 250 added 1.24 percent to 7,506.71.

Miners led gainers on both the 100 and the 250 after copper, aluminium and nickel prices all jumped significantly.

Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) was 9.86 percent higher to lead the 100 while gold and silver miner Hochschild (LSE: HOC) was the top gainer on the 250, where it added 10.09 percent.

Not everyone in the sector saw gains, however, as Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) dropped 2.69 percent.

While most London-listed banks were higher on the session, Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) was 2.4 percent lower on the session.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.65 percent to 864.24 while the IBEX added 1.18 percent to 9,903.7, the Dax was 2.01 percent higher to 4.905.44 and the CAC-40 gained 2.44 percent to 3,217.

There were gains among retailers as Carrefour (Euronext: CA) led the CAC-40 as it added 5.7 percent while at the same time Metro (FWB: MEO) was up 6.23 percent and luxury retailer PPR (Euronext: PP) gained 3.26 percent.

On the Dax, Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) turned in the best performance with a gain of 18.62 percent but Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) was the biggest decliners of the session as it dropped 0.36 percent.

There were only three losers on the Dax and only two on the CAC-40.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher, but the main indices in Tokyo were lower after property investor Orix (TYO: 8591) and air carrier All Nippon Airways (TYO: 9202) were both said to be ready to issue more shares.

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.19 percent to 9,939.93 and the Topix index fell 0.16 percent to 928.3 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps added 0.71 percent to 445.18.

The Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey of business confidence showed that while manufacturers are slightly more confident than they were in the last survey, but it also revealed that large companies also are planning to cut capital spending by 9.4 percent in the fiscal year ending in March 2010.

Orix dropped 4.8 percent and ANA fell 5.9 percent on the news, confirmed in the case of ANA after the close of trade, that they would each sell new shares in order to make more money.

In ANA’s case, part of the new capital will be spent on the purchase of new airplanes.

The other major market seeing declines was Australia, where the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.91 percent to 3,872.3 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 2.05 percent to 3,874.

Other markets in the region saw advances, including an 0.83 percent gain for the Straits Times Index to 2,352.55 while the Sensex added 1.05 percent to 14,645.47, the Kospi was up 1.55 percent to 1,411.66, the Shanghai Composite was 1.65 percent higher to 3,008.15 and the Taiex gained 2.28 percent to 6,478.97.

The Hang Seng was closed for the session in observance of a public holiday in Hong Kong.

New York markets were up in early afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.13 percent to 8,542.6 at just past 1 p.m. in New York while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was 1.1 percent higher to 1,855.3 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.95 percent to 433.75.

Story link: Miners VED, HOC lead 100, 250