British Airways, Carnival down as travel shares falter

Equities markets were higher Thursday in Europe.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.57 percent to 4,461.87 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.54 percent to 2,330.58.

Travel-related shares were lower as British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) fell 1.79 percent and cruise line operator Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL) dropped 2.44 percent in the biggest decline of the day on the 100.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1 percent to 888.75 while the CAC-40 added 0.59 percent to 3,334.94, the IBEX was 0.84 percent higher to 9,708.4 and the Dax gained 1.11 percent to 4,107.26.

Markets were mixed in the Asia-Pacific region, a situation that was echoed in Tokyo results as the Nikkei 225 fell 0.1 percent to 9,981.33 after briefly rising above the 10,000 level, but the Topix index was up 0.39 percent to 940.65 and the Mothers market gained 2.8 percent to 413.95.

Gains in the region came for the Hang Seng, which added 0.03 percent to 18,791.03 while the Kospi was up 0.32 percent to 1,419.39.

In Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 0.57 percent higher to 4,047.2 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.76 percent to 4,046.7, while the Taiex added 1.63 percent to 6,567.37 in Taiwan.

Decliners included the Sensex, which was 0.36 percent lower to 15,411.47 while at the same time the Straits Times Index fell 0.39 percent to 2,381.81 and the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.67 percent to 2,797.32.

New York markets were up in afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.24 percent to 8,847,78 at just before 1:30 p.m. local time while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.11 percent higher to 1,873.57 and the S&P 500 had gained 1.5 percent to 953.2.

Prices for crude oil and most metals were higher while grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade on the Chicago Board of Trade.

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