CRH, Smurfit Kappa lead the Iseq higher

Markets bounced around Europe yesterday, as a report showed the US economy expanded at a faster-than-expected pace. In the US, social networking giant Facebook briefly rose above its $38 initial public offering price for the first time.

DUBLIN
It was a good day on the Irish market, with the Iseq closing up 25.56 points at 4,104. 87

CRH led the charge in Dublin, with strong results from European peers such as Heidelberg dragging the Irish construction stock up. It closed up by 15 cent, or almost 1 per cent at €15.80, helping the overall index to advance.

It was very much Smurfit Kappa's day however, as a set of strong results saw the paper and packaging group climb higher. It closed up by 69 cent or 4.8 per cent at €15.20.

It was also another good day for Grafton, which has been very strong over the last while. Thanks to a strong surge late in the day it closed up by 21 cent, or 3.5 per cent at €6.13, albeit on not much volume.

Food group Kerry also joined the stocks in advance, and it gained € 1.03, or 2.2 per cent to finish up at €46.20.

A mixed set of results from Aer Lingus, which saw its revenues rise but losses also advance, fed through to its share price, with the stock closing down by 0.3 per cent at €1.66 on light volumes.

Elan also struggled on the day, closing down by almost 1 per cent or 11 cent at €11.58.

LONDON
The FTSE 100 rallied as the quickening pace of the global economy's heartbeat revived confidence that economic recovery can be sustained even if stimulus is withdrawn.

Heavyweight stocks led the charge on London’s blue chip index, which closed up 50.11 points or 0.8 per cent at 6,621.06, although off the session high of 6,65.35 with the Federal Reserve’s post-policy meeting announcement due late in the evening.

Europe's biggest bank HSBC added 8.5 points to the index with traders citing a switch out of more UK-focused banks following Barclays' £6 billion cash call on Tuesday. Energy shares, which are acutely exposed to the fortunes of the broader economy, contributed 10.6 points to the index's gains, with oil major BP up 0.7 per cent boosted by upbeat comment from Bof America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan post results. Diageo rose 3.2 per cent after posting an 8 per cent rise in annual operating profit while Irish oil explorer Tullow climbed 1.1 per cent after a successful drill at its Etuko-1 well in Kenya.

EUROPE
European stocks were little changed, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index completing its biggest monthly gain since October 2011. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.1 per cent to 299.58 at the close of trading in London, after earlier climbing as much as 0.4 per cent and dropping 0.5 per cent.

Germany's DAX rose 0.1 per cent, and France's CAC 40 added 0.2 per cent. Anheuser-Busch InBev jumped 6.9 per cent after the maker of Stella Artois lager posted earnings that beat estimates.

PSA Peugeot Citroen, which won European Commission approval for a €7 billion guarantee from the French government on Tuesday, surged 6.7 per cent to €9.60. The carmaker posted an operating loss of €65 million in the first half. HeidelbergCement increased by 5.5 per cent to €57.74. The cement maker said sales in North America and a recovering market in the UK helped profit in the second quarter beat analysts' estimates.

US
US stocks rose in early trading yesterday, with the S&P's 500 Index poised for its biggest monthly gain since October 2011, as a report showed the economy grew more than projected in the second quarter before the Federal Reserve announced its monetary policy yesterday evening.

Comcast climbed by 5.6 per cent after posting earnings that topped analyst estimates. – (Additional reporting Reuters /Bloomberg)