ARM Holdings gains on takeover rumors

European equities markets were mixed Tuesday, with markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt seeing gains on new data from the United States showing that consumer confidence was up in the US in august, while prices for single-family homes added more than expected in June.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.45 percent to 5,225.22 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.46 percent to 9.825.14.

ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM), which designs the semiconductors used in Apple Inc’s (NAS: AAPL) was the best performer on the 100, adding 8.59 percent an renewed rumors that it is a takeover target after Intel (NAS: INTC) said yesterday that is has bought Infineon’s (FWB: IFX) wireless unit.

The best performance on the 250 came from facilities manager Connaught (LSE: CNT), which added 20.20 percent to lead London’s markets.

Hotels operators did not do well, leading declines in the mixed travel and leisure sector as InterContinental Hotels Group (LSE: IHG) turned in the worst performance in the sector and on the 100, dropping 2.96 percent, while over on the 250 Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (LSE: MLC) dropped 2.74 percent.

The best performer in London came from facilities manager Connaught (LSE: CNT), which added 20.29 percent on the 250, continuing its recent roller-coaster ride of big gains and losses.

Home builder Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW) dropped most on the 250, falling 2.75 percent in a mixed home construction sector.

Miners were mostly higher, with only Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) and Gem Diamonds (LSE: GEMD) seeing declines, falling 1.17 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

Serco Group (LSE: SRP) was down 2.51 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its recommendation on the outsourcer from “buy” to “neutral”.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.21 percent to 1,023.3, but the CAC-40 was up 0.11 percent to 3,490.79, the Dax added 0.22 percent to 5,925.22 and the IBEX gained 0.5 percent to 10,187.

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

The Nikkei 225 was down 3.55 percent to 8,824.06, while the Topix index fell 2.96 percent to 804.67 and the Mothers market dropped 1.36 percent to 363.75.

The declines came on a stronger yen that hurt exporters, on personal income data from the United States, which showed that while personal spending in the US gained 0.4 percent in July, personal incomes added a less-than-expected 0.2 percent.

Not even the news that Japan’s industrial production was up 0.3 percent in July, against an expected decline, could help markets there.

The Nikkei was down 7.5 percent in August, while the Topix dropped 5.3 percent during the month and has declined 19 percent since 19 April.

The semiconductors sector was lower, following US chipmaker Intel (NAS: INTC) lower after it bought Infineon’s (FWB: IFX) wireless unit, and after it cut its outlook last week, with Tokyo Electron (TYO: 8035) down 5.7 percent and Elpida memory (TYO: 6665) falling 7.3 percent.

Camera and copier maker Canon (TYO: 7751), industrial robot maker Fanuc (TYO: 6954) and Honda Motor (TYO: 7267), each of which do around 80 percent of their business outside of Japan, were all lower, falling 4.5 percent, 4.7 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.

Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203), which gets 30 percent of its revenues from North America, was down 2.4 percent.

Consumer electronics manufacturer Sharp Corp (TYO: 6753) fell 5.1 percent on media reports that Sony (TYO: 6758) has abandoned plans to buy more of one of Sharp’s LCD units, with Sony falling 3.7 percent on the news.

Oil companies were down after crude oil prices fell, with Inpex Corp (TYO: 1605) down 2.8 percent, while Japan Petroleum Exploration Company (TYO: 1662) dropped 4.3 percent.

The Straits Times Index was down 0.23 percent to 2,950.33, while India’s Sensex fell 0.34 percent to 17,971.12, the Shanghai Composite was 0.52 percent lower to 2,638.8, the Hang Seng was down 0.97 percent to 20,536.49 in Hong Kong, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.99 percent to 1,742.75.

Australia’s Sydney Ordinaries also dropped 0.99 percent, to 4,438.8, while the S&P/ASX200 was down 1.09 percent to 4,404.2, while Taiwan’s Taiex was 1.61 percent lower to 7,616.28.

New York markets were higher in midday trade after the Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index was at 53.5 in August, up from 51 in July.

At just before 1 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.36 percent to 10,045.79, while the S&P 500 was 0.29 percent higher to 1,051.96 and the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.09 percent to 2,121.98.

Crude oil prices were lower as West Texas Intermediate crude was down by over $2 per barrel and Brent crude was nearly that much lower.

In metals trade, copper was down 5 cents per pound in New York on concerns that demand will erode, but gold and silver were higher, with gold trading at $1,250.20 per troy ounce as investors looked for safe places to put their cash.

Tags: Asia-Pacific equities, commodities, European equities, London equities, Wall Street