US stocks and the dollar edged higher on Monday, reversing downward moves after a mixed jobs report last week, but markets were more subdued across Europe.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin was flat on the day with trading down by half as investors enjoyed the bank holiday. Amid the lower volumes, the banks traded better, with AIB and Bank of Ireland up 1.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.
Among the bigger hitters on the index, building materials giant CRH opened lower but rallied after the US market opened.
Paddy Power Betfair parent Flutter Entertainment was down 75 basis points as it prepares to publish results this week. “All eyes are on that stock on Wednesday, and there was some small positioning ahead of that,” noted a trader.
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Elsewhere, budget airline Ryanair was flat on the day but is up 3 per cent over the past week to recover some of the losses it has accumulated in recent weeks.
“Ryanair wasn’t able to give investors a huge amount of clarity or update on guidance into 2024,” a trader said. “With oil prices moving higher, that has certainly weighed on travel and leisure stocks over the past month.”
Meanwhile, box-maker Smurfit Kappa gave up 1 per cent following promising climbs in recent days despite last week reporting a 9 per cent fall in sales in the first half of the year.
London
The FTSE dipped 0.13 per cent as commodity and housing firms were among the fallers. Weak sessions for the UK’s oil majors were a particular drag during a largely timid trading session.
In company news, Rolls-Royce was among the top performers after brokers from JP Morgan improved their rating for shares in the engineering giant. It swapped its “sell” rating to “neutral” after last week’s positive earnings update, taking its shares about 140 per cent higher for the past 12 months. Shares rose by 3p to 209.5p by the close of play.
Industry rival Melrose also made gains on the back of positivity surrounding the sector, closing 13.8p higher at 543.2p.
LSL Properties saw shares slide by 30p to 252p after the mortgage and estate agency services business was another victim of the recent slowdown in the property market.
Europe
On the continent, trading sentiment was cautious as economists particularly look towards the influential US inflation data set to be released later this week.
Germany’s Dax index was 0.01 per cent lower for the day while the Cac 40 closed up 0.09 per cent.
Siemens Energy gained 1.1 per cent, after having fallen as much as 7 per cent. The German energy group said problems recently unveiled at its wind turbine unit would cost it €2.2 billion, well short of worst-case estimates but still casting doubt over the future of the business.
The broader pan-European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.2 per cent ahead of inflation readings from Germany, China and the US later this week.
New York
Wall Street climbed higher following a choppy week, with investors looking ahead to the highly awaited US inflation report that could test the market’s sharp recovery this year.
At 11am eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9 per cent, the S&P 500 up 0.6 per cent; while the Nasdaq Composite had climbed 0.2 per cent.
Tesla slid 2.8 per cent after the electric vehicle giant said that Vaibhav Taneja will replace Zachary Kirkhorn as its finance chief.
Megacap growth and technology stocks Amazon.com and Nvidia inched higher, while Apple, the world’s most valuable firm, fell 1.8 per cent, extending its sharp losses from the previous session following a gloomy iPhone sales report.
Sage Therapeutics sank 48.4 per cent, while Biogen slipped 0.4 per cent after the US drug regulator declined to approve the companies’ joint first-of-its-kind post-partum depression pill. – Additional reporting: Agencies
