An Post mortgage news hits AIB and Bank of Ireland

The Iseq overall index was one of Europe's worst performers on Monday after banks and Ryanair took a hit. News surrounding An Post's entry into the mortgage market appeared to dent the financial stocks while oil had an impact on Ryanair.

Elsewhere, the US-China trade war dented European and US stocks after tariffs from the world's biggest economies came into force and China cancelled planned talks, triggering new fears of a protracted, costly trade dispute.

Dublin

The Iseq overall index was one of Europe’s worst performers on Monday after banks took a hit on the back of weekend news reports. The index fell almost 1.3 per cent on the day.

AIB and Bank of Ireland fell to the bottom of the smaller Iseq 20 on the day on the back of a report that An Post is looking to enter the Irish mortgage market, undercutting the current market offerings by about 1 per cent. AIB dropped 3.16 per cent to €4.662 while Bank of Ireland fell 2.95 per cent to €7.065. Permanent TSB also dropped on the day, albeit with far fewer shares traded, to €2.15, down 3.15 per cent.

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On a day when oil performed well, budget airline Ryanair dropped 2.86 per cent to €13.09. Oil prices, meanwhile, jumped more than 2 per cent to a four-year high after Saudi Arabia and Russia ruled out any immediate increase in production despite calls by Trump for action to raise global supply.

Hotel group Dalata fell 1.47 per cent to €6.69 on the day with very light volume. A report on Sunday suggested the Minister for Finance will raise the VAT on hotel rooms back to its 13.5 per cent rate over the course of two budget cycles.

London

Britain’s top stock index was down 0.4 per cent as miners and consumer multinationals sold off.

Antofagasta, Glencore, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton fell between 0.3 and 2.6 per cent as metals prices reversed course on the resurgence of trade worries.

Dealmaking, meanwhile, drove some of the biggest moves. Europe's largest pay-TV group Sky soared after Comcast's offer won an auction for the company with a $40 billion bid. Sky shares jumped 8.6 per cent to £17.21, just below Comcast's cash offer of 17.28 pounds a share.

Randgold Resources shares jumped 6 per cent after the miner agreed a deal with Canada's Barrick Gold to create the world's biggest gold miner.

Limiting losses on the index, however, were oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Europe

Europe's STOXX 600 fell 0.5 per cent, extending losses after remarks from ECB president Mario Draghi bolstered expectations of rate hikes next year.

Autos, among the most dependent on smooth global trade, fell the most, down 1.5 per cent, while rate sensitive banks ended down 0.8 per cent after briefly turning higher following Draghi’s comments.

Carmakers BMW, Daimler and car parts maker Valeo were the top fallers on the Dax and the CAC 40 respectively.

Luxury stocks were in focus after reports that US fashion group Michael Kors Holdings had agreed to take control of Italy's Versace in a deal that could value the company at $2 billion. Paris-based Kering and LVMH outperformed the broader market, ending up 0.4 per cent and flat respectively, while Hugo Boss was down 1.6 per cent.

New York

With US tariffs on some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods taking effect, along with Beijing’s retaliatory duties, nine of the 11 major S&P sectors, including the rebranded and bigger “communications services” sector, fell.

Boeing, the biggest US exporter to China, shed 0.8 per cent.

The consumer discretionary sector fell 0.70 per cent, led by Michael Kors's 8.8 per cent tumble.

Exxon Mobil gained 1.7 per cent, the most on the Dow, while Chevron rose 0.7 per cent.

– Additional reporting: Reuters