Global stocks stage modest rebound as investors put aside inflation fears

World stocks staged a modest rebound on Monday as traders put aside concerns about interest rate rises and the crisis in Ukraine to dip back in, but global equities are still headed for their worst January since 2016 after a bruising month.

European shares ended higher and Wall Street looked set for a rise as tech stocks jumped from eight-month lows.

But concerns over gas supplies to western Europe persisted as Britain warned it was "highly likely" that Russia was looking to invade Ukraine and the head of NATO said the continent needed to diversify its energy supplies.

DUBLIN

The Irish index of shares closed the session marginally higher, gaining 0.7 per cent to close at 8,220.

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Gains were led by banking and construction stocks, with AIB and Bank of Ireland adding 2 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively. Permanent TSB was 1.5 per cent higher over the day, closing at €1.675.

Homebuilder Glenveagh Properties saw 3 per cent added to its share price over the session, closing at €1.22, while rival Cairn Homes gained 1.14 per cent to finish at €1.246. Insulation specialist Kingspan saw its share price gain almost 3.5 per cent, ending the session at €85.12. CRH was marginally lower at €44.41, or 0.3 per cent lower.

Also showing a loss for the day was Ryanair, which saw its share price decline 1.1 per cent to €16.42. Earlier on Monday the company said it lost €96 million in the last three months of 2021 as Omicron hit bookings in the run up to Christmas.

Revenues rose 331 per cent during the quarter to €1.47 billion from €340 million in the same three months in 2020. But uncertainty over the Omicron variant hit bookings in the two weeks before Christmas and the New Year, which are typically higher-yielding bookings.

LONDON

London’s FTSE 100 erased early gains to end flat on Monday as weakness in healthcare and commodity-linked shares countered advances in financials, while the index recorded its second consecutive monthly increase.

After rising as much as 0.8 per cent, the blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended flat, with Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore and AstraZeneca among top drags.

The FTSE 100 ended the month 1.1 per cent higher, significantly outperforming the wider European stock aggregate, which recorded its worst month since October 2020.

Leading gains were the insurance and industrial stocks, up 0.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.

Vodafone Group was among the top FTSE 100 gainers, up 1.9 per cent, after saying it would work with Intel and other silicon vendors on designing its own chip architecture to drive innovation and efficiency in nascent OpenRAN network technology.

The domestically focussed mid-cap index rose 1.3 per cent, with travel and leisure stocks gaining the most.

Among stocks British recruiting firm SThree jumped 12.6 per cent after its annual profit nearly doubled.

Britain's biggest online-only estate agency, Purplebricks Group, rose 1.3 per cent following its forecast of a return to growth in 2023 after it posted a half-year loss hurt by charges related to "process issues".

EUROPE

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.7 per cent, with tech stocks up 3.5 per cent. But the index lost 3.9 per cent in January.

Technology stocks fell 12 per cent in January, their worst month since the height of the 2008 financial crisis, as investors discounted future earnings from the sector on expectations of higher lending rates.

KPN, the largest telecom provider in the Netherlands, added 1.0 per cent after announcing a share buyback programme and a higher dividend over 2022.

Italian energy services group Saipem plunged 30.2 per cent after issuing a profit warning on deteriorating margins due to the pandemic and higher raw material costs.

NEW YORK

Wall Street edged higher on Monday after a rise in European shares helped stabilise investor sentiment after a series of volatile sessions.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq added nearly 2 per cent on Monday, but was still on track for its worst ever start to the year as investors shied away from stocks with lofty valuations amid aggressive rate hike bets and geopolitical tensions.

Tesla jumped 8.9 per cent after Credit Suisse raised the electric-car maker's stock rating to "outperform", while Netflix surged 8.4 per cent after Citigroup upgraded the streaming company's shares to "buy".

The bellwether S&P 500 has fallen 6.5 per cent so far this month and is on track for its worst month since the pandemic-led crash in March 2020.

At 11.33am, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20.69 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 34,746.16, the S&P 500 was up 33.76 points, or 0.76 per cent, at 4,465.61, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 274.59 points, or 1.99 per cent, at 14,045.17.

Bank stocks dropped 0.5 per cent as a widely watched section of the US Treasury yield curve, an indicator of economic expectations, flattened to its lowest levels since October 2020.

Spotify Technology rose 11.8 per cent after Citigroup upgraded the music streaming company's stock to "buy".

Citrix Systems shares fell 3.8 per cent after the software company said it had agreed to be taken private for $16.5 billion including debt by affiliates of Elliott Management and Vista Equity Partners. – Additional reporting: Reuters