De La Rue adds 30 percent on rejected bid

European equities markets were mixed Monday, with gains for some coming after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made comments in an interview broadcast on US television Sunday indicating that the Fed could extend its program of bond purchases beyond amounts announced in November.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.43 percent to 5,770.28 in London, while the FTSE 250 was 0.62 percent higher to 11,151.3.

By far the biggest gainer in London was banknote printer De La Rue (LSE: DLAR), which added 29.88 percent to lead gains on the 250 after it rejected a takeover offer.

The best performance on the 100 came from Capita Group (LSE: CPI), a business process outsourcer to the public and private sectors, on the news that its CEO bought 150,000 shares of its stock last week.

Aerospace and defense group Cobham (LSE: COB) was 2.41 percent lower for the worst performance on the 100, while online grocery retailer Ocado Group (LSE: OCDO) was down 3.12 percent for the worst result on the 250.

The mining sector was mixed but mostly higher, with Xstrata (LSE: XTA) adding 3.38 percent for the best performance in the sector, but the three top decliners in the sector were all among the five biggest losers on the 100, led by Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) with a drop of 2.4 percent, while Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) was down 2.24 percent and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) was 2.04 percent lower.

Most banks were lower in London, led by a 1.87 percent decline for Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC), while the only gainer in the sector was HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA), which added 0.14 percent.

The energy sector was higher, led by a 5.26 percent gain for Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), while the only decliner in the sector was Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM), which dropped 0.4 percent.

Pubs operator Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB) led gains in the travel and leisure sector, adding 6.62 percent on a media report that it could be the target of a takeover bid from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.15 percent to 1,105.65 and the Dax added 0.1 percent to 6,954.38, but the CAC-40 was down 0.04 percent to 3,749.23 and the IBEX dropped 1.25 percent to 9,889.9.

Some markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on the comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke over the weekend, which raised hopes that the purchases will spur US economic growth.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225, however, was lower as some exporters declined on a stronger yen versus the US dollar as the greenback weakened after a jobs report last week which showed that the US economy only added 39,000 jobs in November.

Still, the Topix index was up 0.25 percent to 881.41 in Tokyo, while the Mothers market gained 2.11 percent to 400.58.

Among the exporters seeing declines were camera and copier maker Canon (TYO: 7751), which was down 0.97 percent while consumer electronics group Panasonic (TYO: 6752) dropped, 1.16 percent, although Sony (TYO: 6758) traded even on the session.

Carmaker Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203) also traded even, and Mazda Motor (TYO: 7261) added 0.42 percent, but Nissan Motor (TYO: 7201) was down 0.12 percent, Honda Motor (TYO: 7267) fell 0.63 percent and Isuzu Motors (TYO: 7202) dropped 1.86 percent.

Declining along with the Nikkei, Australian markets fell as the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.01 percent to 4,779.4 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.12 percent to 4,688.6, while South Koera’s Kospi was 0.18 percent lower to 1,953.64 and the Hang Seng dropped 0.36 percent to 23,237.7.

On the other hand, India’s Sensex was up 0.07 percent to 19.981.3, the Straits Times Index added 0.28 percent to 3,181.41 in Singapore, the Shanghai Composite was 0.52 percent higher to 2,857.18 in China and Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.91 percent to 8,702.23.

New York markets were lower in midday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.09 percent to 11,371.8 while at the same time the S&P 500 had dropped 0.19 percent to 1,222.35 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1 percent lower to 2,588.85.

Crude oil prices were lower in midday trade, with both West Texas Intermediate crude in New York and Brent crude in London last reported down 28 cents, to $88.91 per barrel and $91.14 per barrel respectively.

Metals prices were higher at midday in New York, with gold trading $8.80 higher to $1,415 per troy ounce, above its record high close of $1,410.10 set on 9 November, after going as high as $1,420 per troy ounce earlier in the session.

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