Legal & General, Friends Provident see declines

European equities markets saw declines Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 was 0.89 percent lower to 3,816.44 in London while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.23 percent to 4,905.75.

Insurers were lower on concerns that they will have to raise more capital even though Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), which dropped 3.83 percent, has denied that it is preparing to do so while Friends Provident (LSE: FP) dropped 9.84 percent to turn in the worst performance of the session on the 100.

Elsewhere in the sector, Friends Provident (LSE: FP) was down 9.84 percent for the worst performance of the session on the 100 while Prudential (LSE: PRU; NYSE: PUK) was down 7.62 percent and Aviva (LSE: AV) dropped 5.06 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.37 percent to 719.38 while the CAC-40 was down 0.73 percent to 2,708.05, the IBEX fell 0.76 percent to 7,483.4 and the Dax was 1.03 percent lower to 3,895.75.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on the session.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 1.46 percent lower to 7,268.56 while the Topix index fell 0.68 percent to 730.28 and the Mothers market dropped 0.9 percent to 286.72.

The Sensex dropped 0.24 percent to 8,822.06 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries and the S&P/ASX200 each were down 0.58 percent, to 3,285 and 3,331.6 respectively.

The Straits Times Index was 1 percent lower to 1,614.44, the Taiex was down 1.06 percent to 4,430.18, the Hang Seng fell 2.86 percent to 12,798.52, the Kospi dropped 3.24 percent to 1,063.88, and the Shanghai Composite was 4.56 percent lower to 2,200.65.

New York markets were up substantially in afternoon trade after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Benanke held out the possibility that the recession could be over this year.

At just past 1:30 p.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.06 percent to 7,261.49 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 2.1 percent to 1,416.87 and the S&P 500 gained 2.65 percent to 763.02.

Crude oil, most base metals and grains prices were higher but precious metals prices were lower on the session in New York.

The yen weakened again on declines in the approval rating of Prime Minister Taro Aso and on expectations that the Japanese trade deficit will be higher than it has been in twenty-five years.

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