Taylor Wimpey declines on first-half losses

Most European equities markets saw gains Wednesday after early declines on continuing worries about more losses for banks.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 1.05 percent to 5,528.1 while the FTSE 250 gained a bare 0.04 percent to 9,137.1.

House builders and retailers slowed the 250 as music and book retailer HMV Group (LSE: HMV) led declines there with a drop of 7.66 percent, followed closely by house builder Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW), which fell 7.2 percent on first-half losses.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.22 percent to 1,173.63 as the CAC-40 added 0.1 percent to 4,373.08 and the IBEX gained 0.52 percent to 11,479.6 but the Dax dropped 0.31 percent to 6,321.03 in Frankfurt.

Asia-Pacific region equities markets were mixed Wednesday, with more gainers than decliners after quarterly reports came in with good news in several sectors.

Tokyo’s markets were mixed, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.2 percent to 12,752.96 as the Topix index fell 0.46 percent to 1,223.69 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps added 2.94 percent to 459.55.

Elsewhere in the region, Australian equities markets saw gains as the S&P/ASX200 added 0.07 percent to 5,011.2 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.11 percent to 5,087.8 while the Kospi was up 0.25 percent to 1,493.92 in South Korea, Taiwan’s Taiex was 1.67 percent higher to 7,080.97 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.94 percent to 21,464.72.

Besides the declines in Tokyo, the Straits Times Index fell 0.08 percent to 2,705.09 in Singapore while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.34 percent to 2,342.15 and India’s Sensex dropped 1.28 percent to 14,296.79.

New York equities markets were higher in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.92 percent to 11,517.9, the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.13 percent to 2,388.57 and the S&P 500 gained 0.82 percent to 1,281.88.

Oil and most metals prices saw gains, while grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade.

The euro strengthened as officials of the European Central Bank made comments indicating that speculation about interest rate cuts in the Eurozone might be misplaced and that rates could actually rise next year.

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