A gauge of global stocks rose on Tuesday to reach their highest level since early February as US earnings season picks up steam, while Treasury yields dipped after three straight sessions of gains.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin outperformed European peers as a number of its heavy hitters dragged it up almost 1.5 per cent.
Paddy Power Betfair parent Flutter Entertainment finished the day up 2.8 per cent. “Entain in the UK, one of its peers, had strong numbers out and it was buoyed by those,” noted a trader.
Another group to benefit from a peer was budget airline Ryanair, which climbed 1.8 per cent. “EasyJet had good numbers out as well, so Ryanair caught the rising trend on that one,” a trader said.
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Building materials giant CRH – one of the biggest companies on the index – was up 0.3 per cent at close of business. In the same sector, insulation specialist Kingspan ended the day up 1 per cent.
Among the banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland enjoyed a positive day’s trading, finishing up 3 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.
On the downside, Kerry Group’s price dropped 0.7 per cent.
London
Investors betting on the future of gambling companies have given London’s top stock exchange a boost amid a slow start to the week.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.38 per cent after betting giants Entain and Flutter Entertainment enjoyed a jump in their share price.
In company news, HSBC’s biggest shareholder, Ping An, renewed its calls for the bank to be split up, ahead of the company’s shareholder meeting next month. HSBC said this would not be good for shareholders. Shares in the bank closed down 0.5 per cent.
Meanwhile THG, an online retailer, said its pretax loss had risen threefold to £550 million as it absorbed shocks caused by rising prices while trying to not scare off customers.
Shares in the business had soared by about a third on Monday after it revealed it was the target of takeover interest by US private-equity company Apollo. But on Tuesday shares fell by 15 per cent.
Elsewhere, EasyJet saw its shares rise by 1 per cent after its chief executive said demand was “stronger than ever” despite ticket prices jumping by nearly a third compared with a year ago.
Europe
Shares on the continent advanced, in part due to solid economic data from China, but were off earlier levels that sent them to their highest since February 2022.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.33 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.1 per cent. MSCI’s index had earlier reached its highest level since February 3rd.
Meanwhile, it was a good session for the German Dax, up 0.59 per cent, and the French Cac 40, up 0.47 per cent at close.
New York
The S&P 500 index was little changed as a drop in Goldman Sachs Group’s profit dampened optimism about resilience in the banking sector, with gains in technology stocks helping keep the index afloat.
Goldman Sachs Group dropped 2.5 per cent after its quarterly profit fell 19 per cent, hit by sluggish deal-making and losses from the sale of some loans from its consumer unit Marcus.
Bank of America Corp slipped 0.6 per cent in choppy trade even as its first-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimate. The wider banking index was down 0.2 per cent.
Johnson & Johnson fell 2.6 per cent as the healthcare conglomerate’s 2023 profit forecast was seen as cautious by several analysts.
At 10.12am eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.36 per cent; the S&P 500 was up 0.04 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.13 per cent.
Nvidia jumped 4 per cent after HSBC upgraded the chipmaker’s stock to “buy” from “reduce”, surprised by its pricing power on artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
Lockheed Martin rose 2.9 per cent after quarterly results of the US weapons maker’s surpassed Wall Street targets as simmering geopolitical tensions fuelled demand from both domestic and international customers. – Additional reporting: agencies
