BLND leads gains on FTSE 100

European equities markets were lower Friday as investors worried about new data on US consumer confidence which called into question how fast the economy will recover from the recession.

The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence index was at 63.2 in August, down from 66 in July and below an expected rise to 68.5.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.87 percent to 4,713.97 while the FTSE 250 managed to add 0.38 percent to 8,515.83.

Developer British Land (LSE: BLND) added 3.93 percent to lead the FTSE 100, but the sector saw some declines as Great Portland Estates (LSE: GPOR) dropped 4.07 percent on the 250.

Among homebuilders, Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW) was up 6.7 percent on the 250 to lead the sector’s gains, while Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) gained 5.03 percent.

Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) was the worst performer on the 100 and led declines in the mostly lower mining sector as it dropped 5.57 percent, while printers Domino Printing (LSE: DNO) had the worst day on the 250 with a delcine of 7.18 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.88 percent to 940.21 while the CAC-40 fell 0.83 percent to 3,495.27, the IBEX was 1.31 percent lower to 10,901.9 and the Dax dropped 1.7 percent to 5,309.11.

Commercial property investor Unibail-Rodamco (Euronext: UL, ULA) turned in the best performance on the CAC-40 as it added 3.35 percent while luxury retailers LVMH (Euronext: MC) and PPR (Euronext: PP) added 3.34 percent and 0.11 percent respectively.

Some banks were barely higher on the Paris index, but over on the Dax, Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) dropped 2.06 percent.

The automobile manufacturing sector was mostly lower as Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) dropped 15.62 percent for the worst performance on the Dax while Renault (Euronext: RNO) fell the most on the CAC-40, falling 5.17 percent while Peugeot (Euronext: UG) was 3.66 percent lower.

Truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) bucked the trend among vehicle manufacturers as it added 0.2 percent on the Dax.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific sector were higher on the session.

The Nikkei 225 was 0.76 percent higher to 10,597.33 in Tokyo, while the Topix index added 0.53 percent to 973.57 but the Mothers market was down 0.72 percent to 466.87.

The construction machinery sector was higher on broker upgrades.

Komatsu Ltd (TYO: 6301) was up 5.3 percent after an upgrade from “under perform” to “outperform” from Macquarie Research, while Hitachi Construction Machinery (TYO: 6305) gained 8.4 percent after an upgrade from Mitsubishi UFJ.

The Hang Seng added 0.15 percent to 20,893.33 while the Taiex was up 0.49 percent to 7,069.51 and in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 0.57 percent higher to 4,461 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.64 percent to 4,465.1.

The Straits Times Index was up 0.66 percent to 2,631.51 and the Kospi added 1.71 percent to 1,591.41.

Among decliners in the region, the Sensex was 0.69 percent lower to 15,411.63 while the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.98 percent to 3,046.97.

Disappointment over the new data on consumer confidence sent US markets lower in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.48 percent to 9,259.36, while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.8 percent to 1,973.11 and the S&P 500 had dropped 1.54 percent to 997.09.

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