European shares edged higher on Monday to claw back some of their losses last week, which had been sparked by growing fears of a global recession as major central banks promised further interest rate hikes ahead.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.3 per cent higher. Still, the index remains down almost 13 per cent so far this year on concerns of a recession after the European Central Bank (ECB), like other major central banks, embarked on its aggressive rate-hike campaign to stem a surge in prices partly driven by the Russia-Ukraine war.
DUBLIN
The Iseq overall index added 0.7 per cent to 7,135.39, supported by a 2 per cent advanced by index heavyweight CRH as it said that it plans to buy a further $300 million (€282m) of its shares over the coming months.
Bank of Ireland dipped 0.6 per cent to €8.36 as traders concluded that a surge by the stock on Friday as the company upgraded its full-year net interest income for a second time in under two months has been overdone for now at least. Rival AIB advanced 0.7 per cent to €3.36.
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Corre Energy jumped 6.9 per cent to €2.80 as the energy storage group said it had signed deal that will see energy it stores at a major facility to be built in the Netherlands being bought by Dutch power provider Eneco.
LONDON
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.4 per cent, lifted by energy and miner stocks on steps taken by China to support its economy following a surge in Covid-19 infections in the Asian country. Authorities in Beijing said on Friday they will focus on stabilising its $17-trillion economy in 2023 and step up policy adjustments to ensure key targets are hit.
Energy and mining stocks added 2.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, tracking a rise in oil and copper prices.
“Despite the best efforts of authorities to try and stimulate demand, infections are still surging, and it will be an ongoing concern about just how quickly the Chinese economy will be able to bounce back,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
AstraZeneca fell 0.4 per cent after the company said its drug Imfinzi failed the main goal of a late-stage study in patients with a form of late-stage lung cancer.
Capricorn Energy slipped after some of its investors opposed a planned merger with NewMed Energy, arguing that the deal undervalued the business.
EUROPE
The Dax index in Germany advanced 0.4 per cent as Klaus Wohlrabe, an economist with the Ifo think tank, said the likelihood of a recession in Germany has fallen with the release of a survey showing a stronger-than-expected rise in business morale in Europe’s largest economy in December.
“Maybe we’re a little bit too pessimistic about the impact of high energy prices on the European economy because we forget that companies and households adapt quickly to these high prices and find different ways of doing things,” said Edmund Shing, chief investment officer at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.
Among individual companies, Germany’s Volkswagen dropped 10.7 per cent to the bottom of Europe’s Stoxx 600.
Freenet rose 5.1 per cent after Deutsche Bank raised its rating on the German-based telecom provider’s stock to buy from hold.
NEW YORK
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were lower in early afternoon trading, adding to the market’s recent string of losses, on worries that rising US interest rates will hurt economic growth, while Tesla’s shares struggled after a poll called for Elon Musk to quit as Twitter’s chief executive. Shares of the electric-car maker edged down following strong premarket gains in the wake of a Twitter poll that showed majority of users voted for Elon Musk to step down as chief executive of the social media platform.
Meta Platforms, parent of Facebook, fell after the European Commission said it could impose a fine of up to 10 per cent of the tech conglomerate’s annual global turnover if evidence showed an infringement of the EU’s antitrust laws relating to its online classified ad business.
L3Harris Technologies declined after the US defence contractor said it would buy hypersonic engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.7 billion. Aerojet advanced.
