BAY adds 6 percent on cost cutting

European equities markets were mostly lower to end the week as the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.18 percent on the session to 928.9, although despite the day’s declines it added 2.4 percent on the week and was up 9.2 percent in July.

The FTSE 100 was 0.5 percent lower to 4,608.36 in London, but the FTSE 250 added 0.82 percent to 7,999.96.

British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) led gainers on the 100 as it added 6.03 percent after it said it has cut costs since last year.

Miners were mixed with Xstrata (LSE: XTA) leading gainers in the sector with an advance of 4.81 percent, while Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) declined 3.2 percent to turn in the sector’s worst performance of the session.

Insurer Standard Life (LSE: SLET) was the biggest decliner of the day on the 100 as it dropped 4.67 percent, while Old Mutual (LSE: OML) was down 3.03 percent.

Pubs operators did well over on the 250, where Enterprise Inns (LSE: ETI) added 10.68 percent and Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB) was 8.81 percent higher.

The IBEX was 0.18 percent lower to 10,855.1 while the CAC-40 fell 0.27 percent to 3,426.27 and the Dax dropped 0.53 percent to 5,332.14.

Luxury retailer PPR (Euronext: PP) led gainers on the CAC-40 as it added 10.05 percent while Air-France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) turned in the worst performance of the session on the index as it dropped 4.08 percent on a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.

UBS (SWX: USBN; NYSE: UBS; TYO: 8657) added 3.9 percent after agreeing to a settlement with the United States over suspicious that some Americans have used the bank, based in Switzerland, to avoid paying taxes.

The gain for UBS pulled many banks up with it, but Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) was down 2.78 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) dropped 2.96 percent.

The oil sector declines after the Commerce Department said the United States’ gross domestic product contracted by 1 percent in the second quarter.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on the session.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed at its highest level in ten months and was up 4.1 percent in the week as it ended the day 1.89 percent higher to 10,356.83, while the Topix index added 1.42 percent to 950.26 on the session but the Mothers market dropped 0.29 percent to 463.39.

Quarterly reports were largely positive, but game console maker Nintendo (TYO: 7974) dropped 4.6 percent after it said profits were down in the quarter as demand for its Wii gaming system declined.

Sony (TYO: 6758) added 6.8 percent after its quarterly loss was smaller than expected.

In the real estate sector, developer Mitsui Fudosan (TYO: 8801) added 5 percent after it said profits were up by 32 percent in the most recent quarter.

The Taiex added 0.72 percent to 7,077.71 in Taiwan while the Straits Times Index was up 0.87 percent to 2,659.2 and in Australia the S&P/ASX200 and the Sydney Ordinaries each gained 1.28 percent, to 4,244 and 4,249.5 respectively.

In South Korea, the Kospi was up 1.47 percent to 1,557.29 while the Hang Seng added 1.68 percent to 20,573.33 in Hong Kong, India’s Sensex was 1.83 percent higher to 15,670.31 and the Shanghai Composite gained 2.72 percent to 3,412.06.

Markets in New York were higher in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite had each added 0.27 percent, to 9,179.32 and 1,989.68 respectively, at just past 1:30 p.m. local time.

At the same time, the S&P 500 was up 0.2 percent to 988.7.

Story link: BAY adds 6 percent on cost cutting