Market Buzz: Earnings reports to drive indices

Russian trading will be largely driven by financial results of local and foreign companies and uncertain background at the European floors.

Amazon.com, Facebook Inc, Starbucks, Statoil, Volkswagen AG and TNK-BP are expected to publish their financial results for 1H 2012 later Wednesday.Russian markets slightly gained Wednesday as investors were cheered by the ECB comments. The MICEX added 0.14% and the RTS put on 0.3%, while banking shares were among best performers.European stock markets closed mixed after a choppy session Wednesday during which ECB member Ewald Nowotny said there are arguments in favor of giving the EU’s rescue fund a banking license, allowing it to borrow money from the ECB.  The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.1%. The comments eased pressure on Spain’s borrowing costs and the Spain’s IBEX 35 added 0.8%. US stocks closed mostly lower Wednesday amid lower than expected earnings of Apple Inc. and weaker new house sales. The Dow Jones rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 nearly half a per cent, while the Nasdaq declined 0.3%.A mixed bag of local and foreign earnings reports pushed up most Asian stock markets Thursday. Canon Inc. plunged 9.2% as it cut its outlook for the fiscal year, while Olympus surged 9.2% after reports of a merger with Terumo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.4%, while South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei both put on 0.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1% and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%.