Friends Provident declines on broker downgrade

European equities markets were higher Thursday after the US Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it will buy Treasury bonds, sending banks and commodities shares up on renewed optimism that the economy will recover soon.

The FTSE 100 added 0.31 percent to 3,816.93 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 1.13 percent to 6,261.62.

Friends Provident ( LSE: FP), however, was down 5.34 percent after Citigroup (NYSE: C) cut its recommendation on the insurer from “buy” to “hold”, while special risks insurer Beazley Group dropped 11.62 percent on the 250.

Elsewhere, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.61 percent to 715.27 while the IBEX added 0.52 percent to 7,701.6, the CAC-40 was 0.6 percent higher to 2,776.99 and the Dax gained 1.18 percent to 4,043.46.

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

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 0.33 percent lower to 7,945.96 but the Topix index added 0.01 percent to 764.77 and the Mothers market gained 1.2 percent to 290.81.

Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan’s Taiex was 0.23 percent lower to 5,035.93 while the Kospi dropped 0.7 percent to 1,161.81 in South Korea.

Gainers on the session included the Hang Seng with a gain of 0.1 percent to 13,130.92 while the Sensex added 0.28 percent to 9,001.75 and the Straits Times Index was up 0.57 percent to 1,584.86.

In Australia the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.9 percent to 3,416.8 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.98 percent to 3,480.2 while in China the Shanghai Composite gained 1.89 percent to 2,265.76.

In afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.52 percent lower to 7,447.63 while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.05 percent to 1,490.49 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.37 percent to 791.39.

Crude oil prices rose to their highest of the year while metals and grains prices also saw gains.

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