9:30AM The FTSE 100 gains in afternoon trade Tuesday due to platinum stocks.
In afternoon trade, the FTSE 100 in London gained 18.2 points, or 0.3%, to 6,222.7.

Advancers

Lonmin led the advancers. The platinum miner jumped 3.6% as the precious metal surged $148, or 12%, to a record $1,401.50 an ounce. Mid-cap Aquarius Platinum gained 4.6%.

Scottish Power rose 1.2% while International Power rose 2.8% and Scottish & Southern Energy was 3.1% higher.

Takeover speculation also lifted credit checking group Experian, up 3.4%, and Gallaher, the tobacco group, 0.9% higher.

ICAP firmed 2% after the inter-dealer broker reported solid first half earnings, with revenue up 22%.

British Land advanced 1.8% after the property group announced an 11% rise in net asset value from the interim period. British Land said its rental growth was above average for the sector.

Decliners

Chilled foods group Uniq turned in a hefty loss for the first half after booking restructuring costs but said it was seeing a recovery in all three divisions. Uniq fell 3.12%.

Semiconductor products maker CML Microsystems released poor interim figures and warned that trading results for the opening half are significantly down on the same period last year. The stock gave up 12.24%.

7:30AM Asian stocks finished higher Tuesday, HK gained on property.
Asian markets finished mostly higher on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index added 0.05% to finish at 15,734.14. Tech stocks gained after an overnight advance by U.S. counterparts. Casio Computer reported a 3.4% rise and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines moved 2.8% higher.

Banking stocks mostly declined as the results for major banks in the first fiscal half showed slow recovery in their main lending business. Sumitomo Trust and Banking lost 1.2% and Mizuho Financial Group sank 2.19%.

In Hong Kong, shares closed higher on a strong performance by Chinese property stocks. The Hang Seng Index gained 0.3% to 19,008.30. China Resources Land soared 6.9% after announcing the $350.6 million acquisition of land from its parent, which Mr. Chow said could almost double the holdings in its portfolio. Guangzhou Investment rose 4.1%, on the second day after it said it was buying two large development sites in the center of Guangzhou.

The Straits Times Index in Singapore gained 0.9% to 2,796.26. Singaporean property group Keppel Land rose as much as 4% while fellow developer City Developments rose as much as 3% following an upbeat Deutsche Bank report.

In Seoul, telecommunication shares led the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, 0.3% higher to 1,405.90. Among telecommunication stocks, SK Telecom gained 1.4%, while its smaller rival KT Freetel moved up 0.2%. KT rose 1.3%. Korea Exchange Bank, rose 2.8% on hopes that Lone Star may propose high dividends for KEB shareholders.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7% to 5,358.00 and New Zealand NZX-50 Index added 0.3% to 3,821.19. Taiwan Weighted Price Index gained 0.7% to 7,309.69, while China Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1% to 2,037.55.

6:30AM European stocks advance on Tuesday helped by banks and export stocks.
European markets were higher on Tuesday. By mid morning, the FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.1% to 6,208.4, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 0.2% to 6,463.39, and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.2% to 5,467.1.

Advancers

Swatch Group, the Swiss watchmaker, led the advancers after the Federal Customs Office of Switzerland said exports of watches rose 15.5% year-on-year in October. Swatch shares gained 2.9%.

Richemont, the maker of Cartier watches, gained 1% after Goldman Sachs, which rates the company conviction buy, raised its full-year earnings per share estimates.