European shares finished higher in the final session of the week as some strong earnings helped overturn slippage from earlier in the session, although losses for heavyweight banks and mining giant Glencore still weighed on sentiment.
Wall Street came under pressure after weak results from Intel and Exxon Mobil, with mixed first-quarter GDP data adding to a sombre mood.
Dublin
The Iseq closed in positive territory as a gain for Ryanair offset losses for other key stocks. The airline rose 1.4 per cent to €12.24, climbing in the final few hours of trading.
Scandal-hit Datalex, which saw its share price collapse after the announcement of accounting irregularities, recovered some ground. The travel software group surged 27 per cent to 80 cent after investors approved a €6.15 million loan from its main shareholder, businessman Dermot Desmond.
Kingspan fell 0.7 per cent to €45.50 after its offer to buy two units of Belgian company Recticel for €700 million was rejected . Davy Stockbrokers, wrote in a note that they understood the insulation-maker will not make a revised offer.
Paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa which, like Kingspan, is due to update the market next week, was a key performer, adding 3.2 per cent to €27.30.
London
The FTSE 100 inched 0.1 per cent lower. Glencore fell 3.3 per cent after saying that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission was investigating possible “corrupt practices”.
Royal Bank of Scotland skidded 4 per cent as it reported lower first-quarter profit, while oil majors Shell and BP suffered after US rival Exxon Mobil slumped.
Just Eat fell 4.6 per cent after reporting slower growth in UK orders, which it blamed on warm weather in February and a later Easter.
The world's largest advertising company, WPP, rose 5.4 per cent after reporting higher revenue and reiterating annual targets. Ferrexpo plummeted 28.4 per cent after Deloitte abruptly quit as auditor of the iron ore pellet producer.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.2 per cent, led by two stocks that released upbeat earnings.
Gains of 3.5 per cent by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first quarter was the biggest boost to the pan-region index. The aero engine maker Safran followed, up 3.4 per cent, after it outpaced revenue growth plans in the first quarter.
Reports that Renault will propose to Nissan Motor a plan to create a joint holding company boosted a rally in the French automaker after a string of positive outlooks from car companies including Renault itself.
German company Continental advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.
US
On Wall Street, the big drag was from chipmaker Intel, which slumped 10.4 per cent after it cut its full-year revenue forecast and missed quarterly sales estimate for its key data centre business.
Semiconductor stocks took a beating, with the Philadelphia chip index falling 1.5 per cent, while the broader technology sector declined almost 0.7 per cent.
Exxon Mobil traded down 2.7 per cent as the company’s quarterly profit missed estimates, partly because of lower oil and gas prices.
Amazon. com climbed 1.3 per cent after the e-commerce giant reported quarterly profit that doubled, while Walt Disney also traded 1.3 per cent higher after Marvel Studios superhero spectacle Avengers: Endgame hauled in a record $60 million at North American box offices on Thursday night alone.
Ford Motor Co surged 10.3 per cent and was the biggest gainer on the S&P after it posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings largely due to strong pickup truck sales in its core US market.
Mattel jumped 4.1 per cent after the toymaker beat analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue, as a more diverse range of Barbie dolls powered sales in the US. – Additional reporting: Reuters
