Miner Rio Tinto gains 7.43 percent

European equities markets saw gains Wednesday as miners, chipmakers and the steel sector saw gains.

In London the FTSE 100 added 0.97 percent to 5,371.8 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.33 percent to 8,897.3.

Miners saw gains on advances in metals prices, as Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) led the 100 with a gain of 7.43 percent and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) added 6.71 percent.

The Eurofirst 300 was 0.53 percent higher to 1,165.53 while Madrid’s IBEX was up 0.39 percent to 11,379.9, the Dax added 0.56 percent to 6,317.8 and the CAC-40 gained 0.76 percent to 4,365.87.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw gains Wednesday after markets in China surged .

The Shanghai Composite jumped 7.63 percent to 20,931.26, while the Hang Seng added 2.18 percent to 20,931 in Hong Kong.

Tokyo’s markets were mixed as the Nikkei 225 was down 0.1 percent to 12,851.69 and the Topix index dropped 0.18 percent to 1,233.37 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps added 1.67 percent to 451.65.

Elsewhere in the region, the Straits Times Index added 0.86 percent to 2,751 while the Taiex was up 0.89 percent to 7,040.9 and the Sensex gained 0.92 percent to 14,678.23.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was 1.3 percent higher to 4,929.5 while the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.36 percent to 4,997.5.

South Korea’s Kospi declined slightly, dropping 0.05 percent to 1,540.71.

In early afternoon on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.09 percent to 11,338.05 while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.14 percent lower to 2,381.05 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.06 percent to 1,265.93 after being up earlier on a good earnings report from Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Crude oil and grains prices were higher on the session, but metals prices were mixed.

The euro and the pound were hurt by signs that the economies of Germany and the UK are slowing down.

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