Equities: New York down, Tokyo up

New York: The New York equities markets fell on Tuesday in response to numbers showing the number of existing homes sold were below predictions even though the figures showed that the housing sector continues to prosper as the number of homes sold during the month was the third largest ever.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 percent to 10,519.58, the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 percent to 2,137.25, and the S&P 500 declined by 0.3 percent to 1,217.58. The news about housing sales sent shares in home builders down.

KBH homes saw the biggest loss, declining by 1.7 percent to $70.96. Lennar fell 1.3 percent to $58.93, while Pulte Homes lost 0.8 percent to $83.48. The home furnishings sector was also down on the day. La-Z-Boy blamed rising oil prices as it announced that it expects second-quarter sales figures to be down as it fell 3 percent to $13.57. Ethan Allen Interiors lost 1.2 percent to $31.94, and Furniture Brands International also lost 1.2 percent to end the day at $19.27.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mostly up, except for Merck, which fell by 1.2 percent as it still was feeling the effects of the personal-injury judgment against the company on Friday.

Elsewhere, the sector did not seem to be bothered by Merck’s troubles. Amylin Pharmaceuticals was up 27.7 percent to $28 on the announcement that test results were positive for a weekly injection treatment for type 2 diabetes patients.

Eli Lilly, which helped develop the drug with Amylin, was up 1.9 percent to $53.72, while Alkermes, which developed the injection system that will be used with the drug, added 11.6 percent to $17.67.

Tokyo: Morning trading on the Tokyo equities markets sent stocks higher, so that by midday, the Nikkei 225 had risen by 0.9 percent to 12,569.99, while the Topix index had gained 0.8 percent to 1,280.36.

The gains were seen in many sectors. Advertiser Dentsu, Japan’s biggest, added 3.2 percent to ¥288,000 even thought it announced an 11 percent decline in its quarterly operating profit on Monday.

The steel sector was also up. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing gained 2.6 percent to ¥1,676 as it announced price increases for September, while Nippon Steel was up 1.3 percent to ¥318.

Video game maker Square Enix added 3.5 percent to ¥3,100 on the announcement that it would bid for game machine manufacturer Taito.

Taito’s shares were up by 12.4 percent to ¥181,000 on the news. In other sectors, camera and copier maker Canon was up 1.4 percent to ¥5,650, securities firm Nomura gained 2.2 percent to ¥1,539, and supermarket chain Ito-Yokado added 4.5 percent to ¥4,150.

The banking sector, however, saw losses as Mizuho declined by 0.2 percent to ¥594,000.

London: The London equity markets were mixed on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 falling by 0.3 percent at the close to 5,300.2 even as the FTSE 250 added 0.2 percent to end the session at 7,707.4 on a volume of 2.4 billion shares traded.

British Airways lost 1.6 percent to 285 ¼p as analysts began to assess the damages to the air carrier incurred by the caterer’s walkout at Heathrow airport. One analyst said that BA could have its profits for the year cut by as much as £40 million.

Rolls Royce lost 0.1 percent to 341 ¼p after the announcement that it had won a joint contract worth $2.4 billion in conjunction with General Electric to develop new engines for the joint strike fighter, becoming part of the costliest military project in history.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Acambis gained 4.1 percent to 255p on the announcement that it has successfully concluded phase II trials on a treatment for Japanese Encephalitis.

In the mining sector, Antofagasta added 1.5 percent to £14.91 on the possibility of more merger and acquisition activity involving the Chilean miner in the wake of the death last week of its former chairman and largest shareholder.

Another factor in the company’s advance was the raised interim profits forecasts for 2006, up 43 percent to $341 million due to record copper prices.

Europe: Volumes were light on European equities markets on Tuesday as many investors took summer holidays and as the FTSE Eurofirst 300 lost 0.6 percent to 1,186.73.

The pharmaceuticals sector was still feeling the fallout from last Friday’s jury verdict against Merck in the first Vioxx case to reach the US courts.

Novo Nordisk lost 1.5 percent to DKr323.50 after a US rival reported success in clinical trials of a diabetes drug, which caused concerns that Novo Nordisk’s development of a similar product might be undermined.

Elsewhere in the sector, Sanofi-Aventis lost 1.6 percent to €70.65 and Novartis and Roche each declined by 1.1 percent. Novartis ended the session at SFr61.65, while Roche settled at SFr173.60.

Oil prices caused declines in both the oil sector and in sectors which use a great deal of oil products. In the oil sector, Eni dropped 2.1 percent to €23.47, Total lost 1.2 percent to €208.30, and Repsol YPF declined by 1 percent to €23.86.

Most companies in the automobile manufacturing sector were also down on the day. The exception was Fiat, which closed up 2.8 percent to €7.446 on the heels of Monday’s 3.3 percent gain. Elsewhere in the sector, Peugeot lost 1.2 percent to €51.80, DaimlerChrysler fell 1.3 percent to €42.14, Porsche closed 1.9 percent lower at €643.22.

In the airlines sector, Air France lost 2.4 percent to €13.62 and Lufthansa closed even at €11.09 after recovering from a decline earlier in the day.

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