Nikkei gains most in 3 weeks on China PMI, weaker yen; banks rally

Thu Aug 1, 2013 7:16am BST
TOKYO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average jumped
2.5 percent on Thursday, marking its biggest one-day gain in
three weeks, as investors zoomed in on better-than-expected
Chinese manufacturing data, while a weaker yen and positive
earnings helped buoy the market.

The benchmark Nikkei added 337.45 points to
14,005.77, and the broader Topix climbed 2.8 percent to
1,163.39.

Lenders led the gains, supported by strong April-June
earnings results, with the banking sector subindex
rising 4.2 percent.

Spanish Manufacturing PMI 49.8 50.7 50.0

Italian Manufacturing PMI 50.4 49.8 49.1

FTSE100 modestly higher early on with Lloyds leading the way

GBP Manufacturing PMI 54.6 52.8 52.9

Thankyou Skinny for your posts on this thread, very useful imo

USD ISM Manufacturing PMI 55.4 52.1 50.9

USD Construction Spending m/m -0.6% 0.4% 0.5%

USD ISM Manufacturing Prices 49.0 53.0 52.5

FTSE100 ends session firmly higher with Lloyds the star turn