Posted on Saturday, 7th May 2011 by Emily Smith
Japan’s markets reopened Friday after a series of holidays, with the Nikkei down 1.45 percent to 9,859.2, while the Topix index was down 1.05 percent to 856.5 and the Mothers market dropped 1.03 percent to 473.44.
Tokyo Electric Power (TYO: 9501) was 6.8 percent higher on news reports that it could cover up to half of the ¥4 trillion to be paid to victims of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, which was brought about by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan, but crude oil producers were lower after the huge price declines for crude on Thursday and carmakers were lower.
Most other markets in Asia and the Pacific region were also lower on the session as Australia’s markets were down with the SP/ASX200 falling 0.23 percent to 4,743 while the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.27 percent to 4,816.1, the Shanghai Composite was 0.3 percent lower to 2,863.89, the Straits Times Index fell 0.33 percent to 3,099.52 in Shanghai, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.44 percent to 23,159.1, the Taiex dropped 0.46 percent to 8,977.23 in Taiwan and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.52 percent to 2,147.45, but the Sensex added 1.69 percent to 18,418.8 in India as banks saw gains and after the decline in oil prices reduced concerns about inflation there.
Most European equities markets were higher after the US Labor Department reported that the US economy added more jobs than expected last month, although the US unemployment rate was also up for the first time in five months, from 8.8 percent in March to 9 percent in April, as more people started looking for work.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.96 percent to 5,976.77 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.52 percent to 11,907.2 with banks up on positive quarterly results from Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LSE: RBS), while airlines were up but hotels operators saw declines within a mixed travel and leisure sector, the insurance sector was mostly higher, and miners, the energy sector, utilities, the telecommunications sector and retailers were all mixed.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.26 percent to 1,145.56 while the CAC-40 added 1.33 percent to 4,058.01 and the Dax gained 1.56 percent to 7,492.25 but the IBEX dropped 0.16 percent to 10,610.5.
New York equities markets were higher in midday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.76 percent to 12,679.9 while the SP 500 had added 0.64 percent to 1,343.7 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.97 percent higher to 2,842.05.
Crude oil prices were mixed as June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude down at midday in New York but at the latest report Brent crude had gained more than half a dollar per barrel, while gold and copper were slightly higher in midday trade in New York but silver was down another $1.32 per troy ounce.
Tags: Holidays
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