European shares rise as investors cash in on bargains

European shares rose on Wednesday as cheap values prompted investors to bet on a strong earnings season.

DUBLIN

Most leading Irish stocks gained on what dealers dubbed an “up day” for Dublin and stock markets generally.

“Today was an up day following a down day yesterday, that’s the market we’re in at the moment,” said one.

Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment advanced 2.81 per cent to €98.74 as its industry enjoyed a strong run with investors.

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Ryanair climbed 3.5 per cent to €11.68. Dealers said airlines gained altitude on Wednesday. “Oil prices were a bit weaker, and that might have helped them a bit,” said one.

Packaging maker Smurfit Kappa added 1.15 per cent to close at €30.91. Building materials giant CRH rose 2.82 per cent to €32.95. Dairy and food processor Glanbia added 2.71 per cent to €98.74.

Bank of Ireland led the exceptions as investors offloaded the lender’s stock. Its shares tumbled 6.54 per cent to close at €5.63.

Dealers noted that Irish banks were out of favour with investors, who sold AIB equally heavily earlier this week.

LONDON

Train ticket seller Trainline saw its shares rise by more than a fifth to 340p after it upped its sales outlook. The company said demand for travel had recovered in Europe as US tourists start coming back across the Atlantic.

Net ticket sales rose 16 per cent in the four months to the end of June compared with the same period two years ago. Full year sales are expected to be between 18 per cent and 27 per cent.

AO World saw its shares drop 8.5 per cent to 43p after it announced plans to raise £40 million from shareholders amid fears over its financial health. The raise would boost its balance sheet, the online retailer of electricals said.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, up 49.8p or 7 per cent to 776p, Hargreaves Lansdown, up 35.2p or 4.6 per cent to 798.4p, JD Sports, up 5.2p or 5 per cent to 118.35p, and Intermediate Capital Group, up 58p or 4.5 per cent to 1,342.5p.

EUROPE

Investors showed a strong appetite for Just Eat whose shares gained 15.46 per cent to close at €15.86 after the Dutch takeaway deliverer announced that Amazon was taking a stake in its US Grubhub business.

The stock was Europe’s star performer on a day that was good for most markets. Unexpectedly good German industrial figures also helped boost European shares. The benchmark Stoxx 600, which measures leading equities across 18 markets, rose 1.8 per cent while Germany’s Dax climbed 1.6 per cent on the back of the news. The French CAC 40 rose 2 per cent.

Data showed German industrial orders unexpectedly rose 0.1 per cent in May following a drop of 2.7 per cent in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a decline of 0.6 per cent.

Air France KLM added 1.56 per cent to close at €1.11 as most airlines enjoyed a good day on the markets. Germany’s Lufthansa contracted 0.36 per cent to €5.51.

Italy’s Buzzi Unicem, a rival of Irish group CRH, added 2.5 per cent to close at €16.01.

US

US stock indexes slipped on Wednesday as investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting to gauge the health of the economy and the pace of interest rate hikes to stamp out spiking inflation. The minutes showed the Fed has concluded that entrenched inflation poses a “significant risk” to the US economy.

After a brutal sell-off in global equity markets in the first half of the year, nervous investors are keeping a close watch on central bank actions as they try to assess the impact of aggressive rate hikes on global growth.

Uber Technologies and Doordash fell 4.1 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively, after Amazon agreed to take a 2 per cent stake in Just Eat US food delivery business Grubhub.

Rivian Automotive gained 10.8 per cent after the electric-vehicle maker’s deliveries nearly quadrupled as it ramped up production. — Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters