UK banks led higher by HBOS, Lloyds

European equities markets saw gains Friday on speculation that the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve will both cut interest rates soon, especially after the president of the European Central Bank said that Bank officials discussed cutting rates before deciding yesterday to hold steady at 4.25 percent for the present.

In London, the FTSE 100 was up 2.26 percent to 4,980.25 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.38 percent to 7,995.54.

Banks were higher in London, with HBOS (LSE: HBOS) leading the 100 with a gain of 17.87 percent while Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) was up 10.78 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 2.94 percent to 1,088.65 as the Dax added 2.41 percent to 5,797.03, the CAC-40 was 2.96 percent higher to 4,080.75 and the IBEX gained 3.78 percent to 11,418.5.

Asia-Pacific equities markets were lower Friday.

The region-wide MSCI Asia Pacific Index was down 2.1 percent on the day and it dropped 7.7 percent this week.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.94 percent to 10,938.14 while the Topix index fell 2.69 percent to 1,047.97 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 4.87 percent to 355.65.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was down 1.38 percent to 4,695.4 while the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 1.49 percent to 4,702.8 as miners saw steep declines, while elsewhere in the region the Straits Times Index fell 2.81 percent to 2,297.12, the Hang Seng was 2.9 percent lower to 17,682.4 and India’s Sensex dropped 4.05 percent to 12,526.32.

The Shanghai Composite and the Kopsi were both closed for the session.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 152 points, dropping 1.45 percent to 10,330.72 just a few minutes before floor trade closed in New York after having been up by more than 300 points just before the US House of Representatives approved the bailout plan okayed by the Senate earlier this week.

At the same time, the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.33 percent to 1,950.46 while the S&P 500 had dropped 1.19 percent to 1,101.02.

Crude oil prices were lower while metals and grains prices were mixed on the session.

The pound was weaker after new data showed that the UK’s service sector contracted last month while the US dollar was stronger on global demand.

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