British Airways drops 8 percent on session

European equities markets were lower on Thursday after the Ifo Institute reported that German business confidence dropped in July, while reports from the United States showing that existing home sales declined in June and that first-time jobless claims climbed last week also hurt markets.

In London the FTSE 100 was down 1.61 percent to 5,362.3 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.99 percent to 9,007.2.

British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) led decliners on the 100 with a drop of 8.07 percent, while easyJet (LSE: EZJ) dropped 10.14 percent on the 250.

Elsewhere in Europe the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.62 percent to 1,169.74 as the Paris CAC-40 fell 1.38 percent to 4,347.99, the Dax was 1.46 percent lower to 6,440.7 in Frankfurt and Madrid’s IBEX dropped 2.18 percent to 11,675.1.

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw gains as the US dollar strengthened and prices for oil and other commodities declined.

Asia-Pacific region markets were mostly higher, but there were exceptions as the Hang Seng dropped 0.2percent to 23,087.72 in Hong Kong while the Straits Times Index fell 0.04 percent and the India’s Sensex was down 1.11 percent to 14,777.01.

Australian markets were higher as the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.52 percent to 5,188.4 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.76 percent to 5,144.1, while the Taiex was 0.8 percent higher to 7,368.08, South Korea’s Kospi index gained 2.16 percent to 1,626.14 and the Shanghai Composite was up 2.55 percent to 2,910.29.

In Tokyo, markets gained on lower oil prices as exporters were helped by the stronger dollar.

The Nikkei 225 added 2.18 percent to 13,603.31 and the Topix index was 2.24 percent higher to 1,332.57 while the Mothers market of small and mid-caps gained 5.13 percent to 533.06.

Wall Street was lower in afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 2 percent lower at 11,400.01 as the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.37 percent to 2,294.1 and the S&P 500 had dropped 1.8 percent to 1,259.05.

Crude oil prices were up, but gains were limited by reports of declining demand.

Precious metals and copper prices fell, while grains prices were mixed.

The euro and pound both saw declines during the session.

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