Shares in Japan and Taiwan ended lower on lingering concerns over European economic troubles, while Australian stocks advanced as a set of upbeat earnings reports encouraged more bargain buying.
Investors shied away from European bank and financial stocks following a controversial proposal by German and French leaders for a tax on financial transactions.
The tax announcement, which caused exchanges and financial stocks to plunge, was announced late Tuesday by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Deutsche Börse slumped 5.8%, as investors feared such a plan would hurt exchange operators' business volumes and margins. Although it was suggested the U.K. market wouldn't follow suit, London Stock Exchange fell 2.8%, while Paris-listed shares of NYSE Euronext dropped 4.7%.
Interdealer broker Icap, which acts as a broker to financial institutions dropped 3.7% in London. Among banks, Royal Bank of Scotland Group fell 3.8% in London and Deutsche Bank dropped 2.2% in Frankfurt.
Firmer U.S. equity markets earlier helped some of Europe's main indexes out of the doldrums. The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended up 0.2% at 238.05. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 0.5% at 5331.60, and Germany's DAX slipped 0.8% to 5948.94. France's CAC-40 gained 0.7% at 3254.34.
In PARIS,
Veolia Environnement rose 2.5% and Sanofi gained 2.8% as utilities and drug companies generally performed well across the continent.
In COPENHAGEN,
Carlsberg tumbled nearly 18% after the brewer reported a 22% drop in profit and cut its outlook for the year as markets in Northern and Western Europe are expected to shrink slightly. Vestas Wind Systems surged 24% after the wind turbine maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
In FRANKFURT,
Aixtron SE fell 11% after Deutsche Bank downgraded the semiconductor-equipment company to "hold" from "buy," saying recent market volatility could hurt orders.
In ZURICH,
Roche Holding rose 1.7% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its skin-cancer drug Zelboraf.
In LONDON,
gold and silver miner Fresnillo rallied 5.6%, helped by strengthening gold prices.
In Asia,
mainland Chinese stocks declined on worries about monetary tightening, while Hong Kong shares overcame choppy afternoon trading to edge higher after Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang—visiting the city—announced proposals affirming Hong Kong's status as a key offshore financial hub.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended the day 0.6% lower at 9057.26, Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.7% at 7741.76 and China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% to 2601.26.
In contrast, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index added 1.3% to 4303.90, South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.7% to 1892.67 and India's Sensex also advanced 0.7%, to 16840.80. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.4% to 20289.03, though that was well off the day's high, with the market losing ground after European markets opened on a weak note.
In HONG KONG,
financial stocks climbed, continuing to recover recent losses, with heavyweight HSBC Holdings adding 1.5% and BOC Hong Kong Holdings jumping 4.4%.
In SYDNEY,
investors absorbed a wash of corporate earnings, with pallet maker Brambles advancing 4.4% after it posted a rise in full-year profit and announced plans to sell its Recall document-management business.Woodside Petroleum rose 1.2% after the company's first-half profit topped forecasts.
In TOKYO,
real-estate firms Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsubishi Estate shed 1.9% and 0.7%, respectively. Exporters also lost ground, with Honda Motor falling 2.5% and Suzuki Motor declining 1.4%.
Shares mostly rose in the Americas.
In MEXICO CITY, the IPC index added 0.3% to 34049.58.
No comments:
Post a Comment