XTA leads as miners gain again

Europe’s equities markets saw gains Wednesday, with miners and insurers both up in London.

The FTSE 100 added 2.57 percent to 4,346.46 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 2.18 percent to 7,572.33.

Miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) led gainers on the 100 as it added 8.42 percent and turned in the best performance in the sector, but not all miners were higher as the one decliner in the sector, Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC), led losers on the 250 as it dropped 7.08 percent on the session.

Insurers were also higher, with Old Mutual (LSE: OML) up 7.2 percent while Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) added 6.74 percent.

There were only 3 losers on the 100, led by ICAP (LSE: IAP) when the broker dropped 2.77 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 2.64 percent to 862.31 while the IBEX added 2.82 percent to 9,905.3, the CAC-40 was 2.9 percent higher to 3,171.27 and the Dax gained 3.07 percent to 4,928.44.

There was only one loser each on the Dax and the CAC-40.

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext: ALU; NYSE: ALU; TYO: 6687) had the best day on the CAC-40, adding 10.96 percent, while over on the Dax carmaker Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) turned in the best performance with a gain of 9.16 percent.

Others in the automobile manufacturing sector also did well as Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) added 5.37 percent, Renault (Euronext: RNO) was up 5.12 percent and truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) gained 3.97 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also higher.

In Tokyo, while the Topix index dropped 0.25 percent to 866.37, the Nikkei was up 0.08 percent to 9,269.25 and the Mothers market added 3 percent to 415.11.

Investors in Tokyo remained wary of the news quarterly reports might bring.

Additionally, the Bank of Japan held interest rates steady and said it would continue its efforts to help out corporations past their original September end, both moves that were expected.

Banks were lower on the session, but shares related to the semiconductors sector were up after US chipmaker Intel (NAS: INTC; SEHK: 4335) reported better than expected results for the quarter.

Tokyo Electron (TYO: 8035) was up 0.9 percent while Advantest (TYO: 6857) gained 1.5 percent.

The Shanghai Composite was up 1.38 percent to 3,188.55 and the Taiex added 1.49 percent to 6,738.6, while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 1.48 percent higher to 3,924.5 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.52 percent to 3,917.5.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng added 2.09 percent to 18,258.66, the Kospi was up 2.55 percent to 1,420.86, the Sensex was 2.88 percent higher to 14,253.24 and the Straits Times Index gained 3.41 percent to 2,389.42.

New York markets were up in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 2.28 percent to 8,549.71 at just past 1 p.m. local time, while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was up 2.77 percent to 1,849.6 and the S&P 500 was 2.24 percent higher to 926.17.

Story link: XTA leads as miners gain again