European shares closed higher on Friday, boosted by an earnings-driven advance across several sectors including a recovery in luxury. Global markets remained stable after data showed an improving US inflation picture which kept intact bets for a September interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Tech shares also bounced back on Wall Street to improve the mood.
Dublin
The Irish index of shares ended the week up almost 1.6 per cent, dragged higher by moves in banking, building and food stocks.
While AIB ended the day largely flat, Bank of Ireland gained 1.56 per cent to close at €10.44.
Food group Glanbia was up 2.13 per cent on Friday, reaching €18.23, while Kerry group added a more modest 0.7 per cent.
In building and property stocks home-builder Glenveagh added 2.35 per cent, while Cairn Homes was 1.4 per cent up at the close of the session. Kingspan was 2 per cent higher, with the insulation specialist ending the week at €83.65
Ryanair also bounced back, adding 3.55 per cent over the day to close at €15.01. The stock has been under pressure this week following a quarterly profit slump. Hotel group Dalata gained 2 per cent to finish at €4.20.
London
British mid-cap stocks rallied to their strongest finish in more than two years, helped by a slew of upbeat company earnings reports and a rebound on Wall Street following the benign US inflation data.
The FTSE 250 index of domestically-oriented UK stocks closed up 2.3 per cent at its highest level since March 2022, while the blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 1.2 per cent to close at a two-month high.
NatWest shares jumped 7 per cent to a near decade high as it raised its outlook and snapped up a £2.4 billion mortgage book from Metro Bank.
Babcock International climbed 8.6 per cent after the defence engineering company maintained its full-year forecast, while Jupiter Fund Management rose 6.8 per cent after the company reported forecast-beating profit.
Europe
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.8 per cent higher after hitting a more than two-month low in the previous session. That saw it finish with a modest weekly advance of about 0.5 per cent.
EssilorLuxottica jumped 7.4 per cent after the Ray-Ban maker’s CEO said Meta had told him it might take a stake in the company, while Hermes rose 3.4 per cent after slightly beating second-quarter sales expectations.
Construction and materials led gains among the major STOXX sectors, adding 1.7 per cent, with France’s Vinci up 3.5 per cent after the highway operator posted first-half revenue growth and margin expansion.
Among other headlining stocks, French IT consulting group Capgemini lost 2.5 per cent after forecasting a surprise fall in annual revenue.
Hexagon shed 3.3 per cent after the Swedish industrial technology group reported second-quarter results below expectations and said the slowdown in construction and automotive markets would continue to weigh on the trading environment in the third quarter.
New York
Wall Street bounced back on Friday with the blue-chip Dow leading the charge as some megacap tech and chip stocks recovered from the week’s pummeling and a largely in-line key inflation reading kept bets of an early rate cut alive.
Industrial conglomerate 3M jumped 19 per cent, boosting the Dow to a one-month high after it raised the lower end of its annual adjusted profit forecast.
The Magnificent Seven stocks were mixed, with Microsoft and Meta Platforms gaining more than 1 per cent, while Tesla and Alphabet shed 0.7 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
Approaching noon the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 652.82 points, or 1.63 per cent, at 40,587.89; the S&P 500 was up 57.19 points, or 1.06 per cent, at 5,456.41; and the Nasdaq Composite was up 158.56 points, or 0.92 per cent, at 17,340.28. – Additional reporting: Reuters
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