European shares rose for the first time in three days yesterday after a heavy sell-off following Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union, with battered financial stocks leading the bounce.
The Iseq in Dublin advanced more than 2.8 per cent while almost every stock on the FTSE 100 Index climbed amid a global rebound following the worst plunge since August.
DUBLIN
Bank of Ireland
was among the most prominent gainers, as Dublin joined the rally. It finished the day up more than 10.6 per cent. Other blue-chip Irish stocks also finished strongly, with
CRH
gaining 4.8 per cent, and
Smurfit Kappa
up more than 3 per cent.
There were mixed performances from Irish-listed travel stocks. Datalex, the Dermot Desmond-backed technology company that sells software to airlines, was up 9 per cent, clawing its way back from negative territory.
Ryanair was up more than 3 per cent, although it didn't recover as much as its British peers EasyJet and IAG. Meanwhile, Irish Continental Group, the owner of Irish Ferries, was down more than 1 per cent.
C&C, the Bulmers-Magners cidermaker that is heavily weighted towards the UK market, finished the day down 2 per cent after giving up its early morning gains.
LONDON
The FTSE 250 Index of mid-cap companies gained 3.6 per cent, the most in six years, following its worst two days since 1987.
Lloyds, Prudential
and
Hargreaves Lansdown
rallied more than 7 per cent after financial firms got hit the most in the rout following the Brexit vote.
Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey led housebuilders higher in the FTSE 100, up 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
Bovis Homes was up 37.5p to 680p in the FTSE 250 Index. Builders have been hit hard amid fears over the impact of the vote on property prices.
Retailers saw strong gains in the rally, with Next , the biggest blue chip riser in the sector, up 8 per cent. It was followed by Marks & Spencer with a rise of more than 5 per cent.
Rolls-Royce also rose after it reaffirmed its commitment to the UK despite Brexit and said currency movements would boost underlying revenues by around £400 million.
EUROPE
The Cac 40 in France was up 2.7 per cent and Germany’s Dax rose 1.9 per cent.
Greece's Alpha Bank surged 11 per cent, while Unione di Banche Italiane added 8.2 percent, leading Italian lenders higher. Italy's government has sounded out regulators on ways to shore up its banks after their shares were hammered.
Shares in Volkswagen rose 1.7 per cent after the German automaker agreed to pay more than $15.3 billion to settle charges that it cheated on US diesel emissions tests. Some analysts remain cautious on the stock due to other outstanding legal risks.
Nestlé advanced 3.3 per cent after naming Ulf Mark Schneider as successor to chief executive officer Paul Bulcke.
NEW YORK
Biotechnology shares led the rally in health-care, with
Gilead Sciences
jumping 4 per cent. Regulators approved Gilead’s hepatitis C drug for all forms of the viral disease.
Celgene Crop
rose 2.5 per cent, while
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
and
Biogen
climbed at least 1.5 per cent.
Banks in the S&P 500 increased 1.7 per cent after falling 10 per cent in two sessions. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo added more than 1.4 per cent. Comerica and Regions Financial were among the biggest gainers in the group, climbing at least 2.3 per cent after back-to-back losses of more than 16 per cent
Facebook and Visa rose more than 2.1 per cent to boost the tech group, while energy producers rallied with crude. The S&P 500 Index gained 1.1 per cent.
(Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters/PA)
