European shares close on three-week high

European shares closed at a three-week high on Friday, underpinned by luxury and defence stocks at the end of a week that was dominated by big central bank policy decisions.

DUBLIN

The Irish index of shares gained 1 per cent on Friday, closing the week at 8,772.

Bank shares were mixed, with Bank of Ireland marginally lower at €9.37 but AIB gaining 1.6 per cent, ending the week at just under €3.96. Permanent TSB was up 1.4 per cent to €2.20.

Building stocks were also mixed, with CRH up almost 2.8 per cent but Kingspan slumped 4.35 per cent to €60.32.

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Ryanair had a good run, gaining more than 2 per cent to close the day at €17.03 and regaining some of the ground it lost on Thursday. Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment also ended the day in positive territory, adding 2.3 per cent to close at €186.85.

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Dalata stumbled a little, dipping as low as €4.70 through the day before recovering and ending the day marginally lower at €4.76.

Insurer FBD also had a choppy day, losing more than 1 per cent to close at €12.80.

LONDON

UK’s FTSE 100 climbed on Friday, with defensive stocks such as utilities and healthcare leading the charge, while top building materials supplier Travis Perkins slumped after a profit warning.

The internationally-focused FTSE 100 gained 0.2 per cent, posting a weekly gain of 1 per cent, snapping a three-week losing streak underpinned by strength in mining stocks.

The FTSE 250 mid-cap index ended the day unchanged, though Travis Perkins dropped 6.7 per cent, posting its worst single-day performance in over 10 months after Britain’s biggest supplier of building materials said its profit would be hit by challenges in the country’s housing market.

UK’s construction and materials sector led sector-wise gains for the week. On the day, it was up 1.8 per cent.

EUROPE

The continent-wide European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5 per cent. The index gained 1.5 per cent in the policy-packed week, its best performance in over two months.

China-focused luxury stocks such as LVMH and Richemont gained nearly 3 per cent each, boosting the broader STOXX 600.

France’s luxury-heavy CAC 40 advanced 1.3 per cent leading regional gains, while Germany’s DAX closed at a fresh all-time high.

Defensive shares such as healthcare gained 0.9 per cent, and utilities climbed 1.3 per cent to a four-week peak.

Shares of Rheinmetall climbed 4.9 per cent after the defence contractor said it expects to strike an ammunition deal worth billions of euros with the German government in the coming weeks.

Stockholm-listed shares of Millicom slid 3.2 per cent after the telecom group said talks with Apollo Global Management and Claure Group about a potential bid for the company had been terminated

NEW YORK

US stock indexes were subdued on Friday, but on course for weekly gains as signs of easing price pressures and slowing economic growth fuelled hopes the Federal Reserve was nearing the end of its monetary tightening campaign.

The S&P 500 utilities and consumer staples stocks rose 1.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, while the material sector led declines.

At 16:57 Irish time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 6.16 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 34,401.90, the S&P 500 was up 2.21 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 4,428.05, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 26.51 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 13,756.31.

Nvidia rose 1.8 per cent to fresh record highs after Morgan Stanley hiked its price target to $500 and named the chipmaker as its top pick among US semiconductor firms.

Adobe gained 3 per cent after the Photoshop maker’s earnings forecast surpassed analyst estimates.

Vacuum-cleaner maker iRobot Corp jumped 20.4 per cent after Britain’s competition regulator cleared Amazon.com’s planned $1.7 billion acquisition of the company.

Micron Technology slipped 1.7 per cent after the memory chipmaker warned of a bigger hit to global revenue from a Chinese ban on sale of its chips to key domestic industries. — Additional reporting: Reuters