LGEN leads losers on 100

European equities markets were lower again Wednesday amid generalized anxiety that the global economy will not recover from recession as quickly as had been hoped based on predictions that quarterly earnings reports will be disappointing.

The FTSE 100 was down 1.12 percent to 4,140.23 in London, while the FTSE 250 was 1.76 percent lower to 7,189.9.

The top three losers on the 100 were all in the insurance sector, led by Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) with a decline of 8.66 percent.

The other two biggest losers on the 100 came from the real estate sector, with British Land (LSE: BLND) falling 5.95 percent while Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND) dropped 5.01 percent.

Miners were lower, with declines led by Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) with a drop of 7.92 percent, but BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) bucked the trend and added 0.62 percent on the session.

Pharmaceuticals group GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK; NYSE: GSK) turned in the best performance of the session on the 100 as it added 1.54 percent.

Over on the 250, recruitment group Michael Page International (LSE: MPI) led gainers as it added 4.05 percent while engineering firm Tomkins (LSE: TOMK; NYSE: TKS) was the biggest loser, dropping 8.47 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.25 percent to 815.23 while the Dax fell 0.56 percent to 4,572.65, the CAC-40 was 1.27 percent lower to 3,009.71 and the IBEX dropped 1.67 percent to 9,360.6.

The automobile manufacturing sector was lower as Renault (Euronext: RNO) led decliners on the CAC-40 as it fell 7.47 percent, while Peugeot (Euronext: UG) was down 5.06 percent and Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) dropped 2.27 percent.

In the banking sector, Commerzbank was the biggest loser on the Dax with a decline of 3.21 percent but Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) led winners on the CAC-40 as it added 1.82 percent.

Software group SAP (FWB: SAP; NYSE: SAP) led gainers on the Dax as it advanced 2.29 percent.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on the session.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 2.35 percent to 9,420.75 and the Topix index fell 2.26 percent to 888.54, but the Mothers market added 0.53 percent to 463.19.

Declines came after machinery orders there declined unexpectedly and the yen strengthened, while the oil sector fell with the continuing drop in crude oil prices.

Among carmakers, Toyota (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) fell 3.3 percent while Honda (TYO: 7262; NYSE: HMC) was 5.5 percent lower on the session.

Australian markets were mixed as the S&P/ASX200 added 0.03 percent to 3,767.9 but the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.05 percent to 3,766.

The Kospi was down 0.22 percent to 1,431.02 while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.28 percent to 3,080.77, the Straits Times Index was 0.55 percent lower to 2,259.77, the Topix dropped 0.7 percent to 6,668.14, the Hang Seng was down 0.79 percent to 17,721.07 and the Sensex fell 2.83 percent to 13,769.15.

The general uneasiness over the prospects for economic recovery extended to Wall Street, where markets declined in early afternoon trade.

At just past 1:30 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent to 8,147.5 while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4 percent lower to 1,739.27 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.56 percent to 876.06.

Story link: LGEN leads losers on 100