FRES up 13 percent as FXPO leads miners with 20 percent gain

European equities markets saw gains Tuesday as miners and the oil sector saw big gains, while banks and carmakers also were higher on the session.

The FTSE 100 added 0.85 percent to 4,237.68 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 1.82 percent to 7,411.09.

The top five gainers on the 100 all came from the mining sector, led by gold and silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) with a gain of 13.28 percent, followed by Lonmin (LSE: LMI), which added 9.34 percent while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) was up 8.38 percent, Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) was 6.47 percent higher and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) gained 5.37 percent.

The biggest gainer in the mining sector, iron ore miner Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) also led gains on the 250 as it added 20.78 percent on the session, while on the same index Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was up 9.44 percent.

The biggest gainer among London-listed oil companies also came on the 250, where Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) added 11.42 percent while JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX) gained 10.28 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.01 percent to 838.61 while the IBEX added 0.7 percent to 8,634, the CAC-40 was 0.98 percent higher to 3,081.87 and the Dax gained 1.26 percent to 4,781.69.

Carmakers led gains on both the Dax and the CAC-40, with BMW (FWB: BMW) adding 5.28 percent and Renault (Euronext: RNO) gaining 4.22 percent, while elsewhere in the sector truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) was up 3.57 percent, Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) was 3.24 percent higher and Peugeot (Euronext: UG) added 2.69 percent.

Among banks, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) was up 3.06 percent, Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) added 2.45 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) gained 2.21 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also higher on the session, helped by a new growth forecast for Singapore as the trade ministry said that the gross domestic product there would only contract by 4 percent to 6 percent, rather than the 9 percent contraction predicted earlier.

Tokyo markets broke their string of declines as the Nikkei 225 added 2.34 percent to 9,261.81, the Topix index was up 1.89 percent to 868.57 and the Mothers market gained 3.77 percent to 403.03.

Carmakers and other exporters saw gains on a weaker yen, while financial sectors were higher on positive analyst comment for US financials.

Komatsu (TYO: 6301) added 6.6 percent on a news report that the heavy equipment manufacturer will post an operating profit of around ¥5 billion ($54 million) in the quarter ended in June.

Elsewhere in the region, the Kospi added 0.54 percent to 1,385.56, the Taiex was up 1.66 percent to 6,639.41, the Straits Times Index gained 1.94 percent to 2,310.55, and the Shanghai Composite was 2.1 percent higher to 3,145.16.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 3.23 percent to 3,858.8 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 3.47 percent to 3,867.1, while the Sensex was 3.38 percent higher to 13,853.7 in India and the Hang Seng gained 3.66 percent to 17,885.73 in Hong Kong.

Wall Street was slightly higher in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.09 percent to 8,339.38 at just past 1 p.m. in New York, while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.19 percent to 1,796.59 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.29 percent to 903.66.

Quarterly earnings reports held mostly positive news, but new retail sales data disappointed.

Most of the 0.6 percent rise in retail sales in June came from a jump in at-the-pump prices for gasoline, so that aside from that and the sale of automobiles, US retail sales fell for the fourth month in a row.

Story link: FRES up 13 percent as FXPO leads miners with 20 percent gain