European shares fell on Tuesday as investors remained fearful that central bankers would continue to drive up borrowing costs to ease stubbornly high inflation.
Dublin
Irish shares performed better than European markets, aided by a strong showing from Paddy Power-owner Flutter, but dealers said activity in Dublin was mostly subdued on Tuesday.
Betting giant Flutter climbed 1.65 per cent to close at €156.85, helping to prop up the Iseq index. Dealers said no particular news drove the move, but pointed out that there had been a lot of news from the owner of Paddy Power and Betfair recently. The company last week said it would consult shareholders on taking a secondary listing in New York, as its US business, FanDuel, was growing rapidly.
Elsewhere, financial stocks did well. AIB added 1.27 per cent to end the day at €3.99. Its peer Bank of Ireland closed 0.2 per cent up at €10.075, but traded as high as €10.10 during the day.
Permanent TSB, a big player in the mortgage market, advanced 1.22 per cent to €2.48, benefiting from the generally positive view of Irish banks.
“Financials all did a bit better today but the market generally was a little bit more subdued today,” said one dealer.
London
Miners and housebuilders dragged on London’s benchmark FTSE-100 index, while UK-focused mid-cap stocks also came under pressure.
British home-builders fell 2.4 per cent overall, led by Persimmon, which shed 3.54 per cent to close at 1,415 pence sterling, as rate hike fears grew.
Industrial metal miners fell 2.9 per cent, with Anglo American down 5.5 per cent at 3,154p, leading the industry’s declines after its unit Kumba Iron Ore cut its production outlook.
Also weighing on the sub-index was Antofagasta, down 2.2 per cent at 1,722 as the Chilean miner more than halved its annual dividend and reported a drop in full-year profit.
Shares of HSBC Holdings reversed earlier losses to trade up 4.3 per cent to 647.5p after it posted a 92 per cent surge in quarterly profit.
Among other stocks Holiday Inn-owner Intercontinental Hotels Group slipped 1.0 per cent to 5,540p after it missed full-year revenue expectations due to China’s Covid curbs.
Europe
Troubled lender Credit Suisse tumbled 4.1 per cent to close at 2.66 Swiss francs after reports claimed that regulators were scrutinising remarks by chairman Axel Lehmann on the rate at which clients were withdrawing funds from the bank.
Shares in Recordati fell as much as 4.3 per cent after the Italian drug-maker produced cautious profit margin outlooks for both 2023 and 2025 that came in just short of analyst expectations.The pharmaceutical group’s shares clawed back some of the ground later to end the day 1.24 per cent down at €40.59.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 index was down as much as 1 per cent during trade before recovering later. Investors fear that central bankers will continue to pile on interest rate pressure while inflation remains high.
US
Wall Street’s main stock indexes fell on Tuesday, dragged down by megacap names, after data showing a rebound in business activity in February stoked fears that the Federal Reserve might have more room to raise rates to control inflation.
Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft and Google-owner Alphabet fell between 1.7 per cent and 3.2 per cent as the yield on the US benchmark 10-year Treasury notes hit a fresh three-month high.
High treasury yields imply rising interest rates, which in turn affect the likely future profits of “growth” stocks such as the big tech names.
Data showed business activity rebounding in the US, prompting speculation that the Fed would continue raising rates. – Additional reporting: Reuters
