Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrison all higher in London

European equities markets saw gains Wednesday.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent to 4,416.23 while the FTSE 250 was up 0.77 percent to 7,588.05.

Most retailers were higher, with supermarkets among the winners as Wm. Morrison (LSE: MRW) added 1.53 percent, J. Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) was up 1.65 percent and Tesco (LSE: TSCO) gained 2.84 percent.

Elsewhere in the region, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.64 percent to 870.65 while the Dax added 0.3 percent to 5,000.77, the CAC-40 was 0.76 percent higher to 3.294.86 and the IBEX gained 1.12 percent to 9,510.8.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on the session, some significantly so, but South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.73 percent to 1,362.93 as North Korea made more threats, including a threat to attack South Korea if it persisted in aiding US-led searches of North Korean ships suspected of carrying equipment that could be used to assemble weapons of mass destruction.

Tokyo markets were higher, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.37 percent to 9,438.77 while the Topix index added 1.03 percent to 892.85 and the Mothers market gained 0.07 percent to 375.53.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.34 percent to 3801.1 and the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.36 percent to 3,795.3 while the Shanghai Composite was 1.71 percent higher to 2,632.93, the Straits Times Index gained 3.01 percent to 2,306.8, the Taiex was up 3.1 percent to 6,890.44, the Sensex added 3.83 percent to 14.109.64 and the Hang Seng gained 5.26 percent to 17,885.27.

Wall Street was mixed in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.26 percent lower to 8,451.11 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.63 percent to 1,761.38 and the S&P 500 had added 0.03 percent to 910.64.

Metals and grains prices were mixed while crude oil prices were higher ahead of an OPEC meeting and weekly US inventory data, both due Thursday.

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