SHP, MRK lead FTSE 100, Dax as pharma rises

European equities markets were higher Wednesday on gains in the pharmaceuticals sector.

Shire Pharmaceuticals (LSE: SHP) led the FTSE 100 in London with a gain of 3.96 percent while Merck (FWB: MRK) was the best performer on the Dax as it added 2.22 percent in Frankfurt.

The gains came after Bayer (FWB: BAY; TYO: 4863) said that the breast cancer drug it is developing with Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NAS: ONXX) has shown promising results in a Phase II study.

Bayer added 2.15 percent on the session while Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NAS: ONXX) was up on the Nasdaq.

Defying the sector, GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) was 0.6 percent lower on profit-taking after it issued a better-than-anticipated second quarter earnings report.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.28 percent to 4,493.73 in London, while the FTSE 250 was 0.66 percent higher to 7,794.05.

Miners were mostly lower in London, with Lonmin (LSE: LMI) turning in the worst performance of the day on the 100 as it dropped 3.15 percent, while most bankers were led lower by Barclays (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642), which dropped 3.14 percent on the session.

Over on the 250, paper and packaging manufacturer Mondi (LSE: MNDI; JSE: MONDI) added 8.95 percent for the best day on the index, while house builder Redrow (LSE RDW) topped losers as it dropped 3.7 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.04 percent to 888.54 while the CAC-40 added 0.07 percent to 3,305.07, the IBEX was 0.31 percent higher to 10,153.4 and the Dax gained 0.54 percent to 3,305.07.

Banks were mixed on the CAC-40 as BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) added 0.95 percent but Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) was 0.89 percent lower and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) dropped 0.76 percent.

Insurers were also lower, with Axa (Euronext: CS; NYSE: AXA) down 1.58 percent while Allianz (FWB: ALV; NYSE: AZ) dropped 1.9 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed.

In Tokyo the Nikkei 225, which has gined over 7 percent in the past six sessions, was up 0.74 percent to 9,723.16 while the Topix index added 0.56 percent to 906.58 and the Mothers market was 0.9 percent higher to 446.92.

Gains for exporters were held back by a stronger yen and some saw declines as Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) fell 0.9 percent and Canon (TYO: 7751; NYSE: CAJ) dropped 1.6 percent.

The semiconductors sector saw gains on reports that Shin-Etsu Handotai will raise prices on one wafer by 30 percent to 40 percent.

Shin-Etsu Chemical (TYO: 4063), the parent company of Handotai, was up 4.9 percent while rival Sumco Corp (TYO: 3436) added 4.6 percent.

Australia’s markets were also higher, as the S&P/ASX200 added 0.44 percent to 4,068.5 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.51 percent to 4,068.9.

The Kospi was up 0.34 percent to 1,494.04, the Taiex added 0.46 percent to 6,985.32, and the Shanghai Composite gained 2.6 percent to 3,296.62.

Decliners included the Straits Times Index, which fell 0.14 percent to 2,450.83 while the Hang Seng was down 1.3 percent to 19,248.17 and the Sensex dropped 1.46 percent to 14,843.12.

At nearly 1 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.36 percent to 8,948.44 while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was 0.94 percent higher to 1,934.12 and the S&P 500 had added 0.53 percent to 959.67.

Story link: SHP, MRK lead FTSE 100, Dax as pharma rises