European stocks were little changed, after swinging between gains and losses, as investors weighed the possibility of a successful outcome to last- ditch Greek talks.
Shares erased a decline of as much as 0.8 per cent after an official said Greece’s creditors proposed a five-month extension to the aid programme and €15.5 billion in disbursements to help seal a debt agreement.
The dollar rose and US stocks were mixed.
Dublin Banks traded well on the Dublin market yesterday, with Bank of Ireland surging 2.1 per cent on decent volumes. The stock finished the day at 38 cent, after 75 million shares were traded. Permanent TSB rose 1.8 per cent to finish the day at €4.84.
CRH was "a bit weak" according to one Dublin analyst, falling almost 1 per cent, which would have weighed on the Iseq. The stock closed at €26.24. CRH's German rival, DIY retailer Hornbach Holding, yesterday pointed to weak demand in Europe and CRH has exposure in Europe.
It has been a good week for Ryanair, with investors getting the sense that things were better at the airline following a Davy transport conference in London. While the stock closed down 0.4 per cent in Dublin at €12.34, it was up over the course of the week.
The ISEQ closed up 0.31 per cent or 19 points at 6,367.
London The London market ended lower today with traders concerned that Greece's debt talks will see it default next week unless a deal is agreed.
ARM Holdings dropped 5 per cent, the most among FTSE 100 Index shares, after Sanford C Bernstein lowered its rating on the stock to the equivalent of a sell.
BHP Billiton and Anglo American slid with European miners.
Tesco was up 2.7 per cent after it said it saw signs of an improvement in core markets and reported a better than expected performance, even as sales still declined.
J Sainsbury rose 0.7 per cent and Wm Morrison Supermarkets gained 0.6 per cent.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.8 per cent to 6,753.7 at the close of trading in London.
Europe European stocks rose slightly in on Friday, as optimism for some kind of progress on Greece picked up ahead of weekend talks designed to push Athens into a last-minute cash-for-reform deal with international creditors.
The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.1 per cent, whipsawing from a loss of 0.8 per cent to a gain of 0.5 per cent as Greece and creditors swapped plans to resolve the months long standoff.
Greece’s ASE Index rose 2 per cent on Friday, the best performer among western-European markets.
Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 per cent, with K+S the best-performing index component by a mile.
The potash producer rallied 30 per cent after it said it has received a takeover proposal from larger Canadian fertiliser producer Potash of Saskatchewan.
US US stocks fluctuated, after two days of declines, as a rally in Nike offset a selloff in technology shares while investors continue to watch Greek debt talks.
Nike rose 4.2 per cent to a record after quarterly results were boosted by new products and market-share gains.
Micron Technology sank 19 per cent in early trading after its sales forecast missed projections. Intel lost 3 per cent and SanDisk slid 2 per cent.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 per cent to 2,104.48 at 12:20pm in New York, below its average price during the past 50 days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 85.78 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 17,976.14 as Nike added about 16 points to the index’s gain.
The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.4 per cent as chip companies weighed. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters)
