Equity markets mixed on busy day’s trading

London: It was a roller coaster day on London’s equities markets on Thursday as new reports of terrorist activity erased early gains and sent the FTSE down by 75.8 points, only to make up the losses once it was understood that compared to the bombings two weeks ago, these attacks had caused minimal damage and injury.

Also having an effect on the day’s trade was China’s decision to revalue the renminbi. The FTSE 100 closed the day 0.1 percent higher at 5,221.6, while the FTSE 250 was up 0.4 percent to 7,467.4.

The mining sector was higher as copper prices hit a new peak. Anglo American gained 2.6 percent to £13.73, Antofagasta was up 1.2 percent to £12.93, and Rio Tinto rose by 1.3 percent to £18.62. BHP Billiton added 1.3 percent to 782p on the news that it has entered into a joint venture with Japan’s biggest steel producer, JFE, in a deal expected to be worth $4.3 billion.

In the power sector, Centrica, the UK’s biggest gas and electricity supplier, saw its shares rise on the news that its rival Powergen has raised rates to residential users by 12 percent for gas and 7 percent for electricity. Shares in Centrica gained 2.6 percent to 230 ¾p.

Europe: Investors in Europe were little affected by new attacks in London after it became clear that the incidents were much smaller in scale than the deadly bombings of two weeks ago.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.2 percent to 1,164.80. Gainers on the Eurofirst were led by Essilor International, which were up by 4.7 percent to €60.80. The optical lenses manufacturer reported that its first-half sales were up by 6.7 percent on recovery in its European business and on continuing growth in Asia and Latin America.

Although German business software maker SAP announced that it had surpassed expectations on license sales and operating income, investors were disappointed that the company only reaffirmed its full-year revenue growth forecast at 10 to 12 percent.

Shares in SAP were down 1.4 percent to €145.50. French dairy and food group Danone was also down despite good news from the first half as analysts said that the company was showing signs of a slowdown and as the company’s chairman made remarks that investors took to indicate that the would oppose a rumored takeover bid by PepsiCo. Danone lost 5.2 percent on the day to €87.85.

New York: New York equities markets fell as several factors influenced investors, including the announcement from China that it was finally moving on the revaluation of its currency, a number of new quarterly earnings reports, as well as the news that there had been more terrorist attacks in London.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.57 percent to 10,627.77, the Nasdaq composite fell 0.46 percent to 2,178.60, and the S&P 500 was down 1,227.04.

Analysts were divided on the implications of China’s currency revaluation.

One group believes that the revaluation could rein in the US trade deficit by raising prices on exports out of China.

The other group worried that revaluation could slow China’s economic growth. One analyst said that China’s move was much too small to affect the US trade deficit and that while some US exporters could benefit, many retailers would be hurt as the price of Chinese goods goes up.

Either retailers like WalMart would see their margins decline or prices to consumers would increase. Shares in WalMart had lost 1.3 percent to $49.34 by early afternoon.

The travel sector saw fallout from the new events in London as the Amex airline index was down by 3 percent to 51.78 as some questioned whether the market would recover from the current events as quickly as it had two weeks ago as some might wonder how many more times such incidents could happen. Delta Airlines fell 7.7 percent to $3.61.

On the positive side, Ebay gained 17.8 percent to $41.09 on the news that profits have risen by 53 percent, and Coca-Cola was up 1.9 percent on the Dow to $44.13 in better than expected sales in North America.

Tokyo The Tokyo equities markets were nearly unchanged on Thursday as the Nikkei 225 and the Topix each lost just 0.1 percent as the Nikkei closed at 11,786.73 and the Topix ended the trading day at 1,194.76.

Some export-dependent stocks were stronger on data showing that export volumes were up for the first time in three months, but some sectors that had been showing strong performance saw sell-offs. For example, the iron and steel sector was down by 0.5 on the day.

Nippon Steel lost 0.7 percent to ¥274. Several domestic sectors also declined, as real estate was down 0.6 percent, insurance declined by 0.5 percent, and banking lost 0.4 percent. Japan’s largest real estate developer, Mitsui Fudosan, lost 0.5 percent to ¥1,254, insurer Nipponkoa declined by 0.6 percent to ¥723, and Mizuho Bank fell to ¥487,000, a loss of 0.2 percent.

Retailer Seiyu also closed in negative territory on a prediction of its fourth consecutive year of losses due to weak sales, falling 7.9 percent to ¥211. On the positive side, automobile companies had a good day as Toyota gained 0.7 percent to ¥4,230, Nissan was up 0.6 percent to ¥1,162, and Honda rose by 0.3 percent to ¥5,740.

Internet services provider Yahoo Japan also was up due to a rise in quarterly profits and Wednesday’s jump in US technology stocks, gaining 2.6 percent to ¥236,000.

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