European stocks held close to record highs on Monday with technology stocks leading the charge, as investors counted on strength in corporate earnings to keep the market momentum going.
US stocks also climbed led by technology companies, as inflation anxiety appeared to be easing. Bitcoin headed toward its biggest surge since February, rebounding from a weekend rout.
Dublin
The Iseq closed up 0.35 per cent on a day when many of its European peer exchanges were closed for holidays.
Dalata hotel group, which operates the Maldron and Clayton brands, closed ahead by more than 2.5 per cent to almost €4.30 per share.
The company’s UK hotels look set to benefit from looser travel restrictions, while chatter around the potential earlier reopening of the international travel market into Ireland would benefit its Dublin properties, which reopen next week.
Ryanair shrugged off the worldwide attention caused by the grounding of one of its aircraft by Belarussian forces, as well as comments by Willie Walsh that the airlines industry will be smaller after the pandemic. It stanched losses at a drop of 0.2 per cent to €16.46.
London
The FTSE 100 edged higher after posting its second straight weekly drop, while Cineworld Group gained following a strong weekend opening after a months-long lockdown in the UK. The blue-chip index rose 0.5 per cent with consumer discretionary stocks, mainly Compass Group, Flutter Entertainment and Entain rising between 2.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent.
Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP were also among the biggest risers on the index, rising 9.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively. The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index advanced 0.4 per cent.
Cineworld rose 3.2 per cent after the world's second-largest cinema chain said its UK cinemas pulled in more people than expected, helped by Sony Pictures' animated adventure comedy "Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway".
Chilean miner Antofagasta fell 0.9 per cent after RBC cut its price target on the stock, while Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods climbed 5.9 per cent after brokerages raised their price targets.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.1 per cent to 445.07 points, just below its record high of 446.19 points. European technology stocks jumped 1 per cent, while more economy-sensitive sectors such as banks and basic resources traded in the red.
Trading activity was subdued with markets in Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Switzerland and Germany closed for a holiday.
In Paris the Cac index rose by 0.3 per cent.
Italy's FTSE MIB lagged as several stocks traded ex-dividend. Shares in Italian bank Ifis closed up 1.9 per cent, outperforming a 0.2 per cent rise in Italy's banking shares. It bought the healthy assets of Aigis Banca for €1 after Aigis was forced into liquidation by the insolvency of Germany's Greensill Bank.
New York
Ten out of the 11 groups in the S&P 500 advanced, while the Nasdaq 100 outperformed major equity benchmarks amid a rally in giants such as Apple, Amazon. com and Google's parent Alphabet. The world's largest cryptocurrency bitcoin soared after plunging as much as 18 per cent on Sunday.
Most base metals were under pressure, with iron ore and steel sinking as China stepped up its fight against soaring commodity prices.
Virgin Galactic Holdings soared after the company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson conducted a test flight to space for the first time in more than two years.
Coinbase Globa rose as Goldman Sachs Group recommended buying shares of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Beyond Meat gained as the plant-based meat producer was upgraded to outperform at Bernstein.
Construction materials supplier Martin Marietta Materials said it would buy HeidelbergCement's assets in California and Arizona for $2.3 billion. Martin Marietta's shares rose 1.5 per cent. – (Additional reporting: Reuters/PA/Bloomberg)
