Aquarius Platinum adds 7 percent amid mostly lower mining sector

Equities markets in Europe were lower Wednesday as corporate results for the first quarter continued to disappoint, and on new data from the United States that showed its services sector expanded at its slowest in eight months as the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index came in at 52.8 in April from 57.3 in March.

The FTSE 100 was down 1.62 percent to 5,984.07 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.88 percent to 11,909.1.

Most miners were lower as metals prices declined, but one of the two gainers in the sector put in the best performance on the 250 as Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) added 7.21 percent, but copper miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) had the worst day on the 100 with a decline of 9.01 percent, while gold and silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) dropped 5.19 percent on declining silver prices and gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) was 4.5 percent lower.

Seventeen miners dropped 2 percent or more on the session, while seven of those were at least 3 percent lower.

Over in the energy sector, there was only one gainer as oil well builder and refurbisher Lamprell (LSE: LAM) added just 0.06 percent, and 11 sector constituents were down by 3 percent or more, led by oil explorer and producer EnQuest (LSE: ENQ) with a decline of 5.5 percent.

Banks also saw declines in London, with the worst performance of the session coming from Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN), which was down 3.69 percent after it reported that it cut jobs in the first quarter, followed by a 1.62 percent decline from HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA).

The bright spot in an otherwise dismal day for London equities was the retail sector, which had only four decliners, led by carpet and floor covering retailer Carpetright (LSE: CPR) with a drop of 1.02 percent, while gainers were led by department store operator Debenhams (LSE: DEB) as it added 4.57 percent.

Clothing retailers led gains on the 100 as Next (LSE: NXT) added 4.37 percent after it raised its outlook on earnings and sales for the full year, while Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) was up 3.77 percent, led on the index by DIY retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) as it advanced 2.03 percent.

Most insurers were lower, led by a 3.55 percent decline by Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) after its first-quarter revenues did not meet expectations, while the best of five gainers in the sector was credit card protection insurer CPP Group (LSE: CPP) with a gain of 3.86 percent.

Chipmaker ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM), which makes chips for Apple’s (NAS: AAPL) iPhone, was down 7.31 percent after a report that Intel (NAS: INTC) is interested in making chips for Apple, while Imagination Technologies Group (LSE: IMG), another chipmaker, dropped 5.84 percent.

Logistics specialist Stobart Group (LSE: STOB) was down 7.53 percent for the worst performance on the 250.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.44 percent to 1,134.2 while the IBEX fell 1.04 percent to 10,712, the CAC-40 was 1.31 percent lower to 4,043.13 and the Dax dropped 1.69 percent to 7,373.93.

There were only four gainers on the Dax, with chemicals and consumer products group Henkel AG (FWB: HEN) up 0.94 percent for the best day on the index while air carrier Deutsche Lufthansa (LSE: LHA) was down 4.67 percent and was the worst performer there.

BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP) added 1.12 percent as the bank led the three gainers on the CAC-40, while telecommunications group Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext: ALU) dropped 4.63 percent for the worst day on that index.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on concerns that China will make more moves soon to tighten monetary policy even though recent data showed that manufacturing growth slowed in April, with the concerns being raised by a statement from the People’s Bank of China that bringing inflation under control is its highest priority.

Australia’s markets were lower as oil producers and miners declined on more drops in commodities prices, with the Sydney Ordinaries down 0.84 percent to 4,813.8 while the S&P/ASX200 was 0.93 percent lower to 4,740.1.

The Sensex was down 0.35 percent to 18,469.4 in India, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.91 percent to 2,180.64, the Straits Times Index was 1.26 percent lower to 3,133.76 in Singapore, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.35 percent to 23,315.2 and the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.26 percent to 2,866.02.

Taiwan’s Taiex saw a small gain, adding 0.01 percent to 8,947.35, while Tokyo’s markets remained closed for holidays.

Markets were lower in New York at midday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.97 percent to 12,683.2 while the S&P 500 had dropped 1.06 percent to 1,342.3 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.07 percent lower to 2,811.33.

Crude oil prices were lower at midday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories in the United states were up by 3.4 million barrels last week, double the expected gain and 1.7 percent above last year’s levels, although gasoline stockpiles dropped by 1 million barrels against an expected 600,000 barrel gain and distillates were down by 1.4 million barrels when the had been expected to rise by 1.2 million barrels.

West Texas Intermediate crude was down $2 in midday trade in New York to well below $110 per barrel, while Brent crude was down $1.55 to below $121 per barrel in London.

Metals prices were also significantly lower as gold dropped $32 per troy ounce at midday in New York, while silver was down by $3.27 per troy ounce and copper had retreated by 12 cents per pound.

Story link: Aquarius Platinum adds 7 percent amid mostly lower mining sector