European stocks fell on Tuesday as a spike in inflation caused jitters about a possible shift in monetary policy. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.4 per cent lower, but marked a seventh straight month of gains in its best monthly winning streak since 2013.
In the United States, Wall Street’s main indexes hovered near record highs despite weakness in technology stocks, with the S&P 500 also heading for a seventh straight month of gains.
Dublin
The Iseq index slipped almost 0.8 per cent, lagging some of its European peers.
AIB was down by by 2.3 per cent to €2.55 per share, as the State announced it was reducing its stake in the bank's rival, Bank of Ireland, below 12 per cent. Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, gained more than 2 per cent to €5.32.
Ryanair said it would launch another 14 routes from London airport this winter, flying to several European countries. Shares in the business closed down 2.8 per cent amid a wider sell-off in travel stocks.
Among other travel stocks to feel the effect were Irish Continental Group, the owner of Irish Ferries, down 1.6 per cent to €4.28. Dalata, the State's biggest hotel group, fell 0.7 per cent to €3.78. Budget accommodation platform Hostelworld was down 1.9 per cent to €1.03.
London
The FTSE 100 ended lower, mainly due to weakness in financials and commodity-linked stocks. It fell 0.4 per cent to its worst session in nearly two weeks, weighed by a 1.4 per cent drop in banks, while both energy and miners were down 1.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.
Bunzl saw a drop in its share price, after it warned investors that it is facing supply chain issues in many major markets. In the UK there are both materials and labour shortages to contend with, Bunzl said. Its shares dropped 1.6 per cent.
Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline saw a 0.9 per cent drop in its share price as it started a phase-three trial of its Covid-19 vaccine work with South Korea's SK Bioscience. They hope to start supplying the vaccine in the first half of next year.
Weir Group jumped 3.8 per cent to the top of FTSE 100 after Peel Hunt upgraded the engineering company to "buy" from "hold".
Europe
The German Dax index closed down 0.3 per cent, while the Cac 40 in Paris dropped 0.1 per cent.Travel and leisure stocks fell 0.7 per cent after European Union governments agreed to remove the US from the EU’s safe travel list.
Dutch company Galapagos rose 7.2 per cent after announcing the planned retirement of its chief executive officer.
Deal-making was also in focus. Another Dutch outfit, Prosus, was among the biggest gainers, rising 6.4 per cent, after agreeing to acquire Indian online payments service BillDesk for $4.7 billion, making its largest global acquisition to date in the Asian nation.
French chemicals group Arkema jumped 4.2 per cent after agreeing to buy Ashland Global's performance-adhesives business for $1.65 billion (€1.4 billion).
New York
Four of the 11 major S&P sectors retreated, with technology and materials among the top losers. Shares of Apple fell 0.6 per cent and were the biggest drag on the Nasdaq, while Zoom Video Communications tumbled 16.7 per cent as it signalled a faster-than-expected easing in demand for its video-conferencing service after a pandemic-driven boom.
Textron rose 1 per cent after Cowen upgraded the Cessna business jet maker's stock to "outperform" from "market perform" and raised its price target to a Street-high of $95.
Oil slipped as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies geared up for a meeting on Wednesday amid calls from the US to pump more crude, though Brent still traded well above $70 a barrel. – (Additional reporting: Reuters/Bloomberg/PA)
