LMI leads miners lower in London

European equities markets were lower Monday on concerns that recently improved sentiment in several regions of the globe could be too optimistic about the prospects for economic recovery.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.98 percent to 4,194.91 while the FTSE 250 added 0.77 percent to 7,320.35.

Miners took four of the top five spots in the losers column on the 100, with Lonmin (LSE: LMI) falling the most as it dropped 8.54 percent while Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was down 7.45 percent, Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) was 6.96 percent lower and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) dropped 6.11 percent.

Nickel miner Talvivaara (LSE: TALV) bucked the trend as it added 1.68 percent on the 250.

Chemicals group Reckitt Benckisher (LSE: RB) led gainers on the 100, adding 2.52 percent while home shopping retailer N Brown Group (LSE: BWNG) turned in the best performance on the 250 as it gained 4.02 percent.

Pubs operator Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB) had the worst day on the 250 with a decline of 9.41 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.04 percent to 833.77 while the Dax and the CAC-40 each fell 1.2 percent, to 4,651.82 and 3,082.16 respectively, and the IBEX dropped 1.43 percent to 9,569.

Airlines were the biggest gainer on both the Dax and the CAC-40 as Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) added 2.23 percent and Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) gained 2.24 percent, while Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext: ALU; NYSE: ALU; TYO: 6687) had the worst day on the CAC-40 with a decline of 3.73 percent and Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) turned in the worst performance on the Dax as it dropped 5.24 percent.

Carmakers had a hard time of it on the Dax, where Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) was down 3.46 percent and BMW (FWB: BMW) was 3.08 percent lower on the session.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.38 percent to 9.680.87 and the Topix index was down 0.89 percent to 912.42, but the Mothers market added 3.93 percent to 464.47.

Shippers were lower on continuing declines in the Baltic Dry Index, which is now down 18 percent in the past month.

Nippon Yusen (TYO: 9101) was 3.4 percent lower while Mitsui O.S.K. (TYO: 9104) dropped 4.4 percent.

Retailers were also lower on disappointing quarterly results within the sector.

Other decliners in the region included the Taiex, which fell 0.23 percent to 6,649.91 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 1.11 percent to 3,784.2 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 1.16 percent to 3,783.7.

The Hang Seng was 1.23 percent lower to 17,979.41 while the Straits Times Index fell 1.46 percent to 2.266.09 and the Sensex dropped 5.83 percent to 14,043.4 in India.

The huge declines in India came after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the fiscal deficit for the year to end in March 2010 will be up to 6.8 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, higher than expected.

South Korea’s Kospi added 0.63 percent to 1,428.94 while the Shanghai Composite gained 1.18 percent to 3,124.67.

At nearly 1:30 p.m. in New York, meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had overcome earlier declines to gain 0.16 percent to 8,294.04 but the Nasdaq Composite was 0.95 percent lower to 1,779.48 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.15 percent to 895.08.

Story link: LMI leads miners lower in London