London banks led higher by HBOS

European equities markets were lower again Friday on bad news from the US Labor Department, which reported that unemployment in the United States was up to 7.2 percent in December, the highest in sixteen years.

The FTSE 100 was down 1.26 percent to 4,448.54 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.57 percent to 6,653.88.

Despite losses, most banks were higher, with the Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) up 4.94 precent and HBOS (LSE: HBOS) adding 7.84 percent to lead the 100.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.34 percent to 867.95 while the CAC-40 fell 0.75 percent to 3,299.5, the IBEX was 0.96 percent lower to 9,378.5 and the Dax dropped 1.97 percent to 4,783.89.

Most Asia-Pacific region markets were also lower.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.45 percent to 8,836.8 while the Topix index fell 0.68 percent to 855.02 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps added 0.16 percent to 335.34.

Elsewhere in the region, the Hang Seng was down 14,377.44 while the Taiex fell 0.73 percent to 4,502.74, the Straits Times Index was 1.18 percent lower to 1,806.02, the Sensex dropped 1.88 percent to 9,406.476 and the Kospi fell 2.05 percent to 1,180.96.

Australian markets saw gains, with the Sydney Ordinaries gaining 1.01 percent to 3,680.4 and the S&P/ASX200 added 1.12 percent to 3,735.7, while the Shanghai Composite was up 1.42 percent to 1,904.86 in China.

Wall Street was down after the Labor Department issued its jobless data, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.38 percent to 8,621.88 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.34 percent to 1,579.11 and the S&P 500 dropped 1.87 percent to 892.74.

Oil prices were lower on the bad news on US jobs, while precious metals prices were higher and copper gained on hopes that demand will rise if President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus plan is approved.

The euro was weaker on anticipated interest rate cuts while the South Korean won dropped after the Bank of Korea cut interest rates for the fifth time in recent months.

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