Royal Bank of Scotland leads banks, FTSE 100 higher in London

Most European equities markets made gains Friday after the US Labor Department reported that the economy there added more jobs than expected last month, with 244,000 non-farm jobs added against an expected gain of 185,000 jobs, although the US unemployment rate also gained for the first time in five months from 8.8 percent in March to 9 percent in April as more people started looking for work.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.96 percent to 5,976.77 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.52 percent to 11,907.2.

Banks saw gains as Royal Bank of Scotland group lead advances on the 100, adding 5.58 percent as operating profits went up in the first quarter and earnings in its investment banking unit doubled, followed by a 1.33 percent gain for Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN).

Gains on the 250 were led by Cable & Wireless Worldwide (LSE: CW) as the telecommunications group added 6.21 percent, although the sector was mixed with decliners led by a 1.66 percent drop for communications satellite group Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT).

Declines on the 250 were led by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (LSE: MLC), which was also the worst performer in the travel and leisure sector as it dropped 4.49 percent, while InterContinental Hotels Group (LSE: IHG) was down 0.24 percent.

Also in the travel and leisure sector, airlines saw gains, led by easyJet (LSE: EZJ) with a gain of 3.56 percent after it reported a 35 percent gain in passenger traffic in April, while Intercontinental Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE: IAG) added 3.29 percent on its report that it achieved profits in its first quarter of operation.

The worst performer on the 100 was investment management specialist Man Group (LSE: EMG), which was down 2.29 percent.

Chipmaker ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) was up 4.94 percent after it was reported that Apple (NAS: AAPL) said it could consider using its chips in laptops instead of the Intel (NAS: INTC) chips it uses presently, in addition to the ARM-made chips Apple already uses in its iPhones.

Car insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) was up 2.11 percent to lead a mostly-higher insurance sector after it said its sales were up 56 percent in the first quarter.

Miners were mixed as Anglo American (LSE: AAL) added 3.77 percent to lead gains in the sector and Kenmare Resources (LSE: KMR) dropped 2.94 percent for the worst performance in the sector, while the energy sector was also mixed, with oil well builder and refurbisher Lamprell (LSE: LAM) up 5.24 percent while AMEC (LSE: AMEC), which supplies engineering services to the energy sector dropped 1.61 percent to lead declines among energy shares.

Utilities were mixed as Scottish & Southern Energy (LSE: SSE) dropped 1.73 percent to lead a few decliners in the sector and Northumbrian Water Group (LSE: NWG) added 0.9 percent to lead gains.

Retailers were also mixed as food retailer and caterer Booker Group (LSE: BOK) gained 3.14 percent as the best performer in the sector and automobile retailer Inchcape (LSE: INCH) led declines as it dropped 2.67 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.26 percent to 1,145.56 while the CAC-40 added 1.33 percent to 4,058.01 and the Dax gained 1.56 percent to 7,492.25 but the IBEX dropped 0.16 percent to 10,610.5.

Markets in Asia and the Pacific region were mostly lower on disappointing data from the United States, including more new jobless claims last week and a slowdown in the growth of the services sector in the US in April.

The Nikkei 225 was 1.45 percent lower to 9,859.2 in Tokyo as markets opened after three days of closures for holidays, while the Topix index was down 1.05 percent to 856.5 and the Mothers market dropped 1.03 percent to 473.44.

Tokyo Electric Power (TYO: 9501) was up 6.8 percent after news reports that it could pay out up to ¥2 trillion of a total of ¥4 trillion to be paid to victims of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, which was brought about by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan.

Oil producers were lower after oil prices dropped by nearly 9 percent on Thursday, with Inpex (TYO: 1605) down 6.2 percent while Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (TYO: 1662) dropped 3.6 percent.

Carmakers declined, with Fuji Heavy Industries (TYO: 7270), which makes Subaru cars, down 2.1 percent while Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203) was 2.4 percent lower and Honda Motor (TYO: 7267) dropped 4.7 percent.

Australia’s markets were lower, with the S&P/ASX200 down 0.23 percent to 4,743 while the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.27 percent to 4,816.1, the Shanghai Composite was 0.3 percent lower to 2,863.89, the Straits Times Index fell 0.33 percent to 3,099.52 in Shanghai, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.44 percent to 23,159.1, the Taiex dropped 0.46 percent to 8,977.23 in Taiwan and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.52 percent to 2,147.45.

The Sensex added 1.69 percent to 18,418.8 in India as banks saw gains and after the decline in oil prices reduced concerns about inflation there.

New York equities markets were higher in midday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.76 percent to 12,679.9 while the S&P 500 had added 0.64 percent to 1,343.7 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.97 percent higher to 2,842.05.

Crude oil prices were mixed at midday in New York as June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was down 56 cents to $99.24 per barrel but at the latest report Brent crude had added 64 cents to $111.44 per barrel.

Gold was slightly higher in midday trade in New York, but silver was down another $1.32 per troy ounce and copper had added almost a cent per pound.

Story link: Royal Bank of Scotland leads banks, FTSE 100 higher in London