Global stock markets inch ahead

Global stock markets inched ahead yesterday to close at almost five-year highs as investors looked forward to the beginning of US earnings season. More than a third of S&P 500 companies will report earnings this week.

Investors' mood was also helped by a pledge from G20 nations on Saturday to put growth before austerity to revive the global economy, which the group said was "too weak".

DUBLIN
The Irish stock market retreated as the Iseq fell 0.2 per cent, or 8.5 points, to 4,072 points.

Oil and gas explorer Providence Resources made the biggest loss on the Irish market. The stock shed 9.5 per cent to 5.5 cent following disappointing news that its partner ExxonMobil has abandoned drilling at the Dunquin well off the coast of Cork after it failed to return commercial quantities of oil.

Miner Kenmare Resources rose 9.6 per cent to 32 cent after analysts at Canaccord Genuity reiterated their "buy" recommendation on the stock, reducing the target price from 39 pence to 35 pence.

Irish market heavyweight CRH shed 0.5 per cent to €15.67 cent. The move weighed on the market as the stock makes up 20 per cent of the ISEQ index.

Newly launched real estate investment trust Green REIT also made strong gains up 1.7 per cent to €1.17 cent. The trust has gained 17 per cent since its launch last week.

LONDON
Most UK stocks retreated following four successive weeks of advances for the benchmark FTSE 100 Index. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 7.5 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 6,623 points.

GlaxoSmithKline was the biggest drag on the benchmark measure after an executive said some employees may have broken the law in China as shares lost 1.2 per cent to £16.94.

China’s public security ministry last week accused Glaxo officials of economic crimes involving 3 billion yuan (€370 million) and detained four senior executives.

Bumi tumbled 8.6 per cent after the coal producer at the center of an ownership dispute ended a three-month halt in London trading.

EUROPE
European shares rose to seven-week highs as the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.14 per cent higher at 1,210 points, after rising to as high as 1,213 points during the session, the index's highest level since early June.

Financials lead the market after upbeat quarterly results from UBS fuelled hopes for European bank earnings.

Shares in the Swiss lender gained 2.5 per cent and hit a level not seen since early 2011, after it came out early with better-than-expected results. Other banks also rallied, with BNP Paribas up 1.7 per cent and UniCredit up 2.5 per cent.

Telefonica and KPN are in talks to combine their German mobile businesses in a deal worth over €4.5 billion that would help them compete with bigger competitors Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone. Shares in Telefonica Deutschland Holding rose 6 per cent to €5.72

NEW YORK
US stocks rose with monthly flows into equity exchange-traded funds that are at a five-year high, as housing data and earnings from companies including McDonald's fuelled speculation monetary stimulus would continue.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.2 per cent to 1,696 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 15 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 15,559 at lunchtime in New York.

Yahoo dropped 3.2 per cent after saying activist investor Daniel Loeb is leaving the board.

Activist hedge fund Third Point also reached an agreement to sell two-thirds of its stake in Yahoo back to the company for $29.11 per share sending shares down further.

Newmont Mining climbed 6 per cent, leading gains among gold producers, as the metal's price rose to a one-month high.

(Additional Reporting - Bloomberg/Reuters)