Northumbrian Water Group, other water utilities gain in London

European equities markets were mixed Tuesday as banks generally declined as analysts worried that the Greek government has not yet announced strategies for fixing that nation’s financial troubles.

While the main indices in Frankfurt, Paris, and Madrid all saw small gains on the session, London’s markets were lower was were the main indices in nations such as Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg and Hungary, while the main markets in Greece and Austria each dropped over 2 percent.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.56 percent to 5,285.77 in London, while the FTSE 250 was down 0.12 percent to 9,026.87.

Water utilities saw gains in London, led by Northumbrian Water Group (LSE: NWG), which added 2.89 percent while Pennon Group (LSE: PNN) was up 2.75 percent, Severn Trent (LSE: SVT) was 2.48 percent higher and United Utilities (LSE: UU), which also supplies electricity and gas, was up 2.09 percent.

Banks were mixed in London, with Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) up 2.07 percent for the best performance in the sector while HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA) was down 2.51 percent to do worst in the sector.

Most miners were lower, led by gold miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), which was 2.69 percent lower for the worst performance of the day on the 100, while Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) led the few gainers in the sector as it added 2.41 percent.

The best and the worst performances in the London session both came on the 250, where construction services group Morgan Sindall (LSE: MGNS) added 6.27 percent and investment managers Brewin Dolphin (LSE: BRW) was down 6.99 percent.

Insurer Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) led gainers on the 100 as it added 2.59 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on the session, with some hurt by concerns that China will put a lid on property speculation by targeting “excessive” prices for properties in selected cities there after property prices were up at their fastest rate in over a year.

Tokyo markets were also hurt by the news that Standard and Poor’s issued a downgrade of Mexico’s credit rating a week after Fitch Ratings did the same and exporters were hit by the continuing strength of the yen, but property groups and related shares gained in Tokyo on a report that new apartments for sale in Tokyo were up by 10.8 percent last month from November 2008.

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.22 percent to 10.083.48 and the Topix index fell 0.05 percent to 884.63, but the Mothers market added 2.82 percent to 411.14 on the session.

In the property sector, Mitsui Fudosan (TYO: 8801) was up 2.1 percent while Mitsubishi Estate (TYO: 8802) added 2.9 percent and Sumitomo Realty & Development (TYO: 8830) was 4.6 percent higher.

Additionally, apartment construction group Leopalace21 (TYO: 8848) was up 10.5 percent after Credit Suisse raised its recommendation to “outperform”, and property fund manager Secured Capital Japan Co (TYO: 2392) gained 11.6 percent.

Other decliners in the region included the Straits Times Index, which was down 0.03 percent to 2,798.7, while the Taiex fell 0.15 percent to 7,807.62, the Shanghai Composite was 0.86 percent lower to 3,274.46 and the Hang Seng dropped 1.23 percent to 21,813.92.

Australian markets were higher, helped by gains in the mining sector after JPMorgan Chase raised its recommendation on Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) from “neutral” to “overweight” and boosted their rating on BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) from “underweight” to “neutral”.

The Sydney Ordinaries and the S&P/ASX200 each added 0.42 percent, to 4,687.8 and 4,673.5 respectively.

Also gaining were South Korea’s Kospi, which was up 0.06 percent to 1,665.85 while India’s Sensex gained 1.29 percent to 16,877.16,

New York markets were also mixed in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.26 percent lower to 10,473.69 and the S&P 500 was down 0.28 percent to 1,111.04 but the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.06 percent to 2,213.52.

Tags: Asia-Pacific markets, European markets, London markets, Wall Street