Miners FRES, HOC lead 100, 250

European equities markets were up Thursday as London saw gains on a buoyant mining sector and after the Bank of England held interest rates steady again at 0.5 percent but did not expand its program to put more money into the faltering economy.

The FTSE 100 added 0.45 percent in London, while the FTSE 250 was up 0.52 percent to 7,234.

All five of the top gainers on the 100 came from the mining sector, led by gold and silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), which added 10.06 percent, while over on the 250, Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) turned in the best performance of the day with a gain of 10.11 percent.

The biggest loser of the day on the 100 was insurer Aviva (LSE: AV), which dropped 3.96 percent, while bill-paying system operator PayPoint (LSE: PAY) lost the most on the 250 as it fell 7.76 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.76 percent to 823.32 while the CAC-40 added 0.54 percent to 3,025.94, the IBEX was 0.88 percent higher to 9,443.1 and the Dax gained 1.26 percent to 4,630.07.

IT services group Cap Gemini (Euronext: CAP) had the best day on the CAC-40 as it added 4.13 percent, while over on the Dax, Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) gained 4.64 percent for the best performance of the day there.

Utilites were mixed as GDF Suez (Euronext: GSZ, GSZB) topped decliners on the CAC-40 with a drop of 1.68, but EDF (Euronext: EDF) added 1.32 percent.

Sports apparel manufacturer Adidas (FWB: ADS) had the worst day on the Dax as it dropped 1.63 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.38 percent to 9,291.06 while the Topix index fell 1.65 percent to 873.91 and the Mothers market dropped 3.92 percent to 445.03.

Exporters were hurt by a strong yen, while the markets more generally were hampered by continuing concerns about recovery from the recession.

Broker sentiment drove some of the day’s results.

Nomura cut its recommendation on motorcycle maker Yamaha Motor (TYO: 7262) to “reduce”, sending shares 1.3 percent lower, while a downgrade to “neutral” for Shiseido (TYO: 4711), also from Nomura and based on weak sales, sent shares in the cosmetics manufacturer 2.7 percent lower.

Broker comment helped shipper Mitsui OSK (TYO: 9104), which added 0.5 percent after Nikko Citigroup upgraded it to “buy”.

Other decliners in the sector included South Korea’s Kospi, which was down 0.01 percent to 1,430.89 while the Sensex fell 0.08 percent to 13,757.46.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 and the Sydney Ordinaries each dropped 0.12 percent, to 3,763.3 and 3,761.4 respectively.

Gains came for the Hang Seng, which added 0.39 percent to 17,790.59 while the Taiex was up 1.2 percent to 6,748.18, the Shanghai composite was 1.37 percent higher to 3,123.04 and the Straits Times Index gained 2.12 percent to 2,307.61.

Wall Street was mixed at just after 1 p.m. in New York as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.02 percent to 8,176.37 but the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.47 percent to 1,755.37 while the S&P 500 was up 0.41 percent to 883.13.

Story link: Miners FRES, HOC lead 100, 250