Miner Xstrata leads 100 in London

Equities markets in Europe were up on Wednesday on a report from the Institute of Supply Management which showed that while manufacturing activity in the United States remained in contraction in March, it didn’t contract as quickly as it has been or had been expected to do, raising hopes that the economy might be beginning to pull itself out of its slump.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.75 percent to 3,955.61 while the FTSE 250 gained 2.62 percent to 6,541.02.

On the 100, miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) added 9.37 percent to lead the index while in the pharmaceuticals sector, Shire (LSE: SHP; NAS: SHPGY) was down 3.42 percent for the worst day on the 100.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 1.39 percent higher to 743.86 while the Dax added 1.13 percent to 4,131.07, the CAC-40 was up 1.15 percent to 2,839.61 and the IBEX gained 2.01 percent to 7,972.1.

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

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 2.99 percent to 8,351.91 while the Topix index was up 2.61 percent to 793.82 and the Mothers market gained 1.27 percent to 310.35.

Other gainers in the region included the Straits Times Index, which was up 0.13 percent to 1,702.26 while the Shanghai Composite added 1.47 percent to 2,408.02, the Taiex and the Sensex each gained 1.99 percent to 5,314.45 and 9,901.99 respectively, and the Kospi was 2.25 percen thigher to 1,233.36.

In Australia, on the other hand, the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.07 percent to 3,579.7 and the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.14 percent to 3,527.2, while the Hang Seng was 0.42 percent lower to 13,519.54.

Midday trade in New York found Wall Street in gains as the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.36 percent to 7,712.14 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.14 percent to 1,546.01 and the S&P 500 had gained 1.09 percent to 806.56.

Crude oil prices fell during the day, but precious metals and grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Miner Xstrata leads 100 in London