European equities markets saw gains Wednesday as banks in the region were higher on hopes that an upcoming stress test for banks will not return results as disappointing as feared.
The FTSE 100 added 1 percent to 5,014.82 in London, while the FTSE 250 was up 0.65 percent to 9,562.68.
Barclay’s Bank (LSE: BARC) led gainers on the 100 as it added 6.19 percent, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) with a gain of 4.69 percent, with the only decliner in the London sector coming from HSBC (LSE: HSBA), which dropped 0.19 percent.
Meanwhile, Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) led the CAC-40 in Paris with a gain of 7.05 percent, Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK) added 3.75 percent to lead the Dax higher in Frankfurt, and Banco Santander (BMAD: SAN) added 6.5 percent in Madrid.
The energy sector was mostly higher in London, led by JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX) with a gain of 7.02 percent for the best performance both on the 250 and in London overall, followed Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM), which added 5.46 percent.
BP (LSE: BP) was also higher, adding 4.79 percent on the possibility that investors in the Middle East could be interested in buying into the troubled oil company.
There were only three decliners in the energy sector, led by Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX), which was down 3.03 percent.
More miners saw gains than declines as well, as gold and silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) added 3.36 percent to lead advances, but Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) dropped 6.54 percent to lead declines on the 250 and in London.
The retail sector was mixed.
J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) added 4.81 percent to lead the sector on media speculation that the Qatar Investment Authority might again be interested in buying the supermarket chain, while Marks & Spencer Group (LSE: MKS) was down 2.65 percent for the worst performance in the sector and on the 100, on a cautious outlook which cited a possible increase in the VAT and other efforts to reduce the UK deficit and how those might affect consumer spending.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.28 percent to 1,003.87 while the Dax added 0.87 percent to 5,992.86, the CAC-40 was 1.76 percent higher to 3,483.44 and the IBEX gained 3.87 percent to 9,987.4.
Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on the session as concerns continued about the health of economic growth around the globe.
The Nikkei 225 was 0.63 percent lower to 9,279.65 in Tokyo, while the Topix index was down 0.68 percent to 841.51 and the Mothers market dropped 1.63 percent to 393.44.
Carmakers were lower as Honda Motor (TYO: 7267) fell 1.6 percent and Nissan Motor (TYO: 7201) was down 1.6 percent.
Camera and copier maker Canon (TYO: 7751) dropped 0.5 percent, while printer manufacturer Kyocera (TYO: 6971) was 1.3 percent lower.
Chip-related shares were mixed as Tokyo Electron (TYO: 8035) fell 1.9 percent but Renesas Electronics (TYO: 6723) added 2.4 percent after it said it will purchase Nokia’s wireless modem unit.
Showa Denko (TYO: 4004), which makes aluminium parts for flat-panel displays, gained 1.9 percent on media reports that it will say its operating profits were up in the first half of 2010.
Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.19 percent to 7,534.46 and the Straits Times Index was down 0.24 percent to 2,861.03 in Singapore, while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 0.5 percent lower to 4,254.6 and the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.51 percent to 4,277.8.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.55 percent to 1,675.65, the Sensex fell 0.81 percent to 17,471.03 in India, and the Hang Seng dropped 1.13 percent to 19,857.07 in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai Composite, however, managed to add 0.49 percent to 2,421.12.
New York markets were up in midday trade as bank and technology stocks saw gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.5 percent to 9,890.22 while at the same time the S&P 500 gained 1.55 percent to 1,044.01 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.35 percent higher to 2,122.1.
Crude oil prices and metals prices were higher at midday in New York.
Print this Story
