Europe equities drop on session

Europe’s markets were lower on Thursday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.44 percent to 1,312.1. The Dax was 0.53 percent lower to 6,741.72 in Frankfurt while the Paris CAC-40 fell 0.49 percent to 4,887.87 and Madrid’s IBEX dropped 0.72 percent to 13.738.90. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.42 percent to 5,891.3 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.88 percent to 10,177.2.

Testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday that the Fed will recover most or all of the $29 billion it loaned to stave off the collapse of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) sent Wall Street higher in early afternoon trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.42 percent to 12,659.41 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.46 percent to 2,372.29 and the S&P 500 was 0.48 percent higher to 1,374.04.

Tokyo’s equities markets saw gains. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.52 percent to 13,389.9 while the Topix index was 1.37 percent higher to 1,299.64 and the Mothers market added 0.04 percent to 623.49. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, the Sensex was up 0.52 percent to 15,823.55. The Kospi index was 1.23 percent higher to 1,763.63 while the Straits Times Index added 1.5 percent to 3,171.55 and the Hang Seng was up 1.64 percent to 24,264.63. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.82 percent to 5,645.8 while the S&P/ASX200 was 1.93 percent higher to 5.608.9. The Shanghai Composite added 2.94 percent to 3,446.24. The main exception to the gains was Taiwan’s Taiex, which dropped 0.1 percent to 8,596.34.

Crude oil prices were up slightly in afternoon trade after going above $106 earlier. Metals prices also climbed, while grains prices were mixed.

The dollar strengthened in relation to the euro and the yen, but the dollar’s gains were limited by a report that US first-time jobless claims jumped last week to levels not seen since September 2005.

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