A gauge of global equities fell on Tuesday after weak Chinese trade data sparked concerns about China’s domestic demand recovery, while the impasse over the US debt ceiling sparked a sharp sell-off in short-dated Treasury bills.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin finished the day up just over 0.5 per cent, with budget airline Ryanair the “talk of the town” after it struck a deal to buy up to 300 Boeing 737 Max 10 aircraft worth more than $40billion (€36.3bn). The airline was up 3.6 per cent at close of business, but the market otherwise was “jittery” ahead of inflation data and an expected rate announcement by the Bank of England on Thursday.
Bank of Ireland was up 3.3 per cent after it has started a €125 million share buyback programme, in line with a plan announced in March when the company reported full-year results.
AIB was a little bit weaker on the day, with a trader noting that investors “are worried about when a Government placing is coming for the bank”.
In the construction sectors building materials group CRH was flat, while insulation specialist Kingspan was down 60 basis points, and Woodie’s parent Grafton Group tumbled almost 2.7 per cent.
London
The FTSE 100 closed down 0.18 per cent after new figures revealed house prices have slipped, sending shares in the UK’s top listed builders lower.
Student housing owner Unite Group sunk to the bottom of the FTSE with shares down by more than 4 per cent, while British Land and Land Securities Group dipped by more than 3 per cent.
Major builders Berkeley Group and Barratt Developments also saw their share price dip by more than 2 per cent at close.
Meanwhile, British Airways-owner IAG Group jumped to the top of the index after rival Ryanair announced it was creating around 10,000 jobs after ordering 300 new aircraft, signalling an optimistic outlook for the aviation sector.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were IAG, up 5.3p to 155.8p, Flutter Entertainment, up 350p to 15820p, Relx, up 45p to 2479p, Beazley, up 9p to 590.5p, and Intercontinental Hotels Group, up 80p to 5492p.
Among the d biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Unite Group, down 43.0p to 908.5p, Ocado, down 20.5p to 475p, and DCC, down 151.0p to 4714p.
Europe
European markets saw a subdued session with the Cac 40 declining 0.59 per cent, and the German Dax eking up by just 0.02 per cent. Europe’s broad Stoxx 600 index dipped 0.77 per cent but was just about still in touch with mid April’s 14th-month high.
Real estate stocks were in the spotlight, with the European subindex down more than 2 per cent at one point after top Swedish landlord SBB scrapped plans for a rights issue amid growing liquidity concerns that sparked S&P to cut its credit rating to junk.
New York
US stock indexes fell, weighed down by a slew of dour earnings forecasts from companies such as PayPal and Apple supplier Skyworks, while investors focused on talks to resolve a debt-ceiling deadlock.
Shares of PayPal dropped 10.5 per cent and led declines on the benchmark S&P 500 index after the company cut its margin forecast. It was also among the top drags on the Nasdaq Composite index.
Boeing gained 3 per cent, helping take some pressure off the Dow, following the Ryanair deal.
Skyworks Solutions shares tumbled 6.9 per cent after forecasting current-quarter revenue and earnings below estimates.
Shares of other Apple suppliers including Qualcomm, Broadcom, Qorvo and Corning fell between 0.9 per cent and 2 per cent. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index was down 1.8 per cent.
At 9.45am eastern time the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.05 per cent; the S&P 500 was down 0.38 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.49 per cent.
– Additional reporting: Agencies
