It was a quiet day on the Irish market with little enough reaction to the budget overall. The Iseq was down 0.46 per cent on the day. On the international markets, investors were watching the Middle East as tensions between Iran and Israel continued
Dublin
Food group Glanbia fell 2.55 per cent to €14.90, while Kerry Group fell 0.92 per cent to €91.80 on Wednesday.
AIB rose marginally by 0.08 per cent to €4.85, Bank of Ireland fell by 0.83 per cent to €9.27 and Permanent TSB finished even on the day at €1.68. Tuesday saw a large fall in banking
Housebuilders finished in the green at the end of the day on Wednesday with Cairn Homes rising 0.72 per cent to €1.96 and Glenveagh Properties up 1.95 per cent to €1.57. Ryanair fell by 0.22 per cent to €16.13.
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London
The UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 stock index edged higher on Wednesday, led by energy shares as oil prices jumped on concerns about tensions in the Middle East, though investors were cautious as they assessed the risk of escalating conflict.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.2 per cent, while the more domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 index was down 0.6%.
Heavyweight oil and gas shares rose 1.6 per cent, closing at their highest in more than a week, as oil prices rose on concerns that crude output from the Middle East could be impacted the Israel/Iran situation.
Still, most investors seemed to avoid panic selling.
“Overall I’d say market reaction has been pretty muted. You saw some safe haven buying yesterday but a lot of that’s being given back today,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.
“Oil prices have gone up but are still sitting at around $70-ish a barrel, there’s a lot of things where you’d think markets would be pricing in a lot more geopolitical tail risk than they seem to be.”
Europe
In Europe, equity markets were broadly steady but slightly more cautious, with a small dip for German stocks.
The Cab 40 ended 0.04 per cent higher for the day and the Dax index was down 0.33 per cent at the close.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “Global markets, and indeed the international community, are on tenterhooks as they await an Israeli response to Iran’s attacks on Tuesday.
“This is unlikely to be a repeat of last time, given the geopolitical implications, and thus today’s calm reaction by investors may not last.”
New York
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged higher on Wednesday but were near two-week lows as investors watched for an escalation in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, while a survey soothed concerns about a rapid cooldown in the U.S. labor market.
Markets remained cautious as Israel and the US vowed to strike back after Iran attacked Israel on Tuesday, following which the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq logged their biggest one-day falls in nearly a month.
Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher, with Energy stocks touching a more than one-month high. They were last up 0.9 per cent.
Oil prices climbed more than 3 per cent as traders priced in possible supply disruptions from the Middle East. Chevron and Exxon Mobil added 1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.
Defence stocks such as Lockheed Martin and RTX were flat after the broader S&P 500 aerospace and defence index hit a record high on Tuesday. Additional reporting: Agencies
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