Gains for BP, Royal Dutch Shell
European equities markets were mostly higher Friday as optimism increased a bit on better earnings outlooks and news on sales.
In London the FTSE 100 was 1.53 percent higher to 4,232.97 but the FTSE 250 dropped 0.47 percent to 6,127.76.
The oil sector was higher as oil prices climbed but pared gains as oil prices fell later in the session, with BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) adding 3.61 percent as Royal Dutch Shell’s (LSE: RDSA, RDSB; NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) A shares were up 1.92 percent and its B shares gained 3.82 percent.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.96 percent to 860.76 while the CAC-40 added 0.67 percent to 3,291.47, the IBEX was 1.05 percent higher to 8,832.2 and the Dax gained 1.31 percent to 4,710.24.
Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were up.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 2.72 percent to 8,462.39 and the Topix index was up 1.12 percent to 846.91 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 1.15 percent to 323.64.
The Shanghai Composite had one of the biggest gains of the day as it added 3.05 percent to 1,986.44.
Other gainers in the region included the Straits Times Index with a gain of 0.21 percent to 1,759.14 and the Taiex added 0.34 percent to 4,452.7 while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was up 1.37 percent to 3,748.1 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.46 percent to 3,726 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was 2.43 percent higher to 13,542.66.
Not everyone saw gains, however, as the Kospi dropped 0.02 percent to 1,088.26 in South Korea and the Sensex fell 1.58 percent to 9,385.42 in India.
US equities markets were lower in early afternoon trade as investors took profits after significant gains on Thursday and on record declines in retail sales in October.
At nearly 1 p.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.92 percent to 8,574.96 while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 3.6 percent to 1,539.18 and the S&P 500 had dropped 3.41 percent to 880.26.
Crude oil prices were lower after early gains, while metals and grains prices were mixed.
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