Miner KAZ leads 100 as banks, insurers also gain

European equities markets saw gains Monday on the news that US lender CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) will likely avoid bankruptcy and after the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators was reported up 0.7 percent in June, causing speculation that the US economy will recover later in the year.

The FTSE 100 added 1.25 percent to 4,443.62 in London, while the FTSE 250 was up 1.13 percent to 7,666.63.

Miners, insurers and banks were mostly higher, with miner Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) leading the 100 and its sector with a gain of 7.59 percent.

Legal and General (LSE: LGEN) led insurers as it added 7.57 percent while banks were led by Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY), which was up 6.68 percent, while the worst performer of the day on the 100 came from medical devices group Smith & Nephew (LSE: SN) as it dropped 2.38 percent.

Over on the 250, the biggest gainer of the day was house builder Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW), which added 7.91 percent while in the same sector Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) added 5.92 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.2 percent to 880.97 while the IBEX added 1 percent to 10,142.8, the Dax was 1.04 percent higher to 5,030.15 and the CAC-40 gained 1.63 percent to 3,270.94.

Most carmakers were lower on the session after Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) led decliners on the Dax as it dropped 5.4 percent while BMW (FWB: BMW) was down 1.69 percent and Renault (Euronext: RNO) was 0.13 percent lower, but Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) added 2.95 percent.

ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) led winners on the Dax as the steel and engineering group added 3.79 percent while the best performance of the day on the CAC-40 came from hotels operator Accor (Euronext: AC) with a gain of 5.99 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also higher in response to quarterly reports and reports that a group of bondholders have come to the rescue of CIT Group to the tune of $3 billion.

While Tokyo markets were closed in observance of a public holiday, the Straits Times Index was up 1.04 percent to 2,456.15 and Australian markets saw gains as the S&P/ASX200 added 1.24 percent to 4,050.3 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.28 percent to 4,044.2.

The Taiex also added 1.28 percent to 6,938.86 while the Shanghai Composite was up 2.42 percent to 3,266.92, the Kospi was 2.67 percent higher to 1,478.51, the Sensex added 3.03 percent to 15,191.01 and the Hang Seng gained 3.7 percent to 19,502.37.

Wall Street was also higher on hopes that the economy is beginning to recover as the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.56 percent at nearly 1:30 p.m. in New York, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.58 percent to 1,897.51 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.49 percent to 945.03.

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