Bad week for European shares as trade war fears weigh on market

Trade war fears continued to weigh on markets on Friday, leaving European shares suffering after one of their worst weeks since March.

DUBLIN

Ryanair was down 1.8 per cent at one point in trading before trimming back those losses to close 0.22 per cent down at €13.53.

The airline confirmed on Friday that its board had reversed a plan – announced during its recent dispute with pilots – to move six craft from Dublin Airport to Poland. Traders noted that it outperformed its sector.

Building materials group and index heavyweight CRH slid 2.23 per cent to €27.65. Dealers said that weakness amongst rivals in the US, where the Irish company earns half its revenues, hit its price on Friday.

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AIB was one of the day's worst performers, tumbling 2.77 per cent to €4.57 as the stock came under on what traders described as strong sell pressure. Investors disposed of almost four million of the bank's shares.

Rival Bank of Ireland was lacklustre, dipping 0.42 per cent to €7.185. Home lender Permanent TSB ticked up 0.49 per cent to €2.07.

LONDON

Irish-based Tullow Oil tumbled 2.13 per cent to 216 pence as crude prices fell 30 cent to $76.20 a barrel.

Airline Easyjet lost altitude, dropping 1.44 per cent to 1,440p on a day when the sector was generally weak.

Aer Lingus owner International Consolidated Airlines' Group (IAG), shed 1.35 per cent to 672p.

Miners, which have large presence on the FTSE 100, suffered also. Glencore was down 2.75 per cent at 295.95p. Copper miner Antofagasta shed 4.15 per cent to 744.2p. Gold and silver specialist Fresnillo was down 3.36 per cent at 834p.

Warm weather and the World Cup boosted pub group Greene King's sales as England football fans sank more than three million pints while watching Gareth Southgate's men reach the semi-finals before crashing out to a superior Croatia.

The pubs chain pointed to “positive momentum” as it booked a 2.8 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the 18 weeks to September 2nd. Growth over the last 10 weeks stood at 3.2 per cent, helping boost shares by 7.5 per cent to 510.6p.

Air Partner announced a reshuffle of its boardroom pack following a tumultuous few months. The company, which discovered a £3.3 million accounting error earlier this year, has appointed Joanne Estell as finance chief.

Ms Estell's career spans 20 years with firms such as Smiths Group and Survitec. She was most recently finance chief at AIM-listed Shield Therapeutics. Air Partner's shares closed 1.5p lower at 108.5p.

EUROPE

German cement maker Heidelberg lost 2.11 per cent to €66 as US investor wariness of the sector fed into European players with a presence in North America.

French telecoms operator Iliad rose 2.3 per cent on speculation that the company could be delisted. Iliad declined to comment on the rumours.

Amer Sports advanced 3.4 per cent after the Finnish sporting goods maker put its Mavic cycling business up for possible sale late on Wednesday.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 benchmark was 0.08 per cent higher at the close, recovering from a fresh five-month low hit earlier in the session, while the exporter-heavy German DAX index also ended little changed.

US

Investors did not find shares in Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolate maker Mondelez very sweet after chief executive Dirk Van der Put outlined new growth plans for the confectioner on Friday.

The company is aiming at 2 per cent to 3 per cent organic growth. However, the predictions left a sour taste with the markets as Mondelez shares were down 2.85 per cent at $42.24 at noon in New York on Friday.

Boeing and Caterpillar were down 1.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively. Wall Street gave up recent gains as US president Donald Trump threatened further tariffs on China.

Additional reporting: Reuters