Most Asia-Pacific equities markets were lower Monday on continuing worries that the US economy is headed for a recession. The main exceptions were the Shanghai Composite and Taiwan’s Taiex index. The Taiex added 1.79 percent to 8,173.41 after the opposition party managed a big win in parliamentary elections. The Kuomintang party, which promotes closer ties [...]

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw declines on Monday after Swiss bank UBS (SWX: USBN; NYSE: UBS; TYO: 8657) took $10 billion in writedowns, renewing concerns that losses from the US subprime mortgage crisis have not yet seen their peak. The major exception among losses in the region’s markets was the Shanghai Composite, [...]

Asian and Pacific region equities were lower Friday. The Shanghai Composite was 0.12 percent lower to 5,818.05, while in Taiwan the Taiex was down 0.26 percent to 9,611.72. Australian markets declined on losses in the banking and mining sectors. The Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.85 percent to 6,723.3 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 0.91 percent to 6,706.3. [...]

European markets were mixed Thursday, with more losers than gainers. The gainer was Madrid’s IBEX, which added 0.5 percent to 15,507.1. Elsewhere, the pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.78 percent to 1,572.92. In Frankfurt, the Dax dropped 0.8 percent to 7,921.4. The Paris CAC-40 fell 0.89 percent to 5,767.24. Truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) [...]

Europe’s equities markets were mixed Friday. The Dax added 0.09 percent to 8,041.26 in Frankfurt, while Madrid’s IBEX jumped 1.07 percent to 15,261.3. On the other hand, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.08 percent lower to 1,598.14 while the Paris CAC-40 dropped 0.32 percent to 5,843.95. EADS (Euronext: EAD; FWB: EAD) did the best on [...]

Miners led the way in London as the FTSE 100 added 0.73 percent to 6,595.8 and the FTSE 250 gained 0.18 percent to 11,390.4. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) was up 2.92 percent to £33.43 and Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) was 3.25 percent higher to 826p, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) turned in the best performance on the [...]

In Europe, equities markets declined on Tuesday as commodities-related shares fell with oil and metals prices. The Eurofirst 300 fell 1.04 percent to 1,529.91. The Dax dropped 0.24 percent to 7,769.44, while the CAC-40 was 0.89 percent lower to 5,641.59 and the IBEX was down 1.3 percent to 14,304.8. The oil sector declined as Total [...]

In Australia on Monday the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.41 percent to 6,461.1 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 1.47 percent to 6,451.5. The gains came on a report that miner BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP; NYSE: BHP; LSE: BLT) will soon say that it has found a large new deposit of gold in South Australia. BHP added [...]

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed Thursday, but most managed gains. In Singapore, however, the Straits Times index dropped 1.17 percent to 3,552.46. India’s Sensex was 0.15 percent higher to 16,347.95, while the Kospi index gained 0.33 percent to 1,908.97 in South Korea. The Hang Seng added 0.57 percent to 25,701.13 for another [...]

Tokyo’s markets were lower Tuesday as they reopened after Monday’s Respect for the Aged Day holiday. The Nikkei 225 dropped 2.02 percent to 15,801.80, while the Topix index fell 2.19 percent to 1,510.95 and the Mothers market was 2.64 percent lower to 620.42. Banks were lower on continuing fallout from Northern Rock’s (LSE: NRK) problems [...]