Strong US jobs data sent the dollar and Wall Street higher on Thursday, while in Europe, Britain’s bond markets recovered from a renewed burst of debt worries.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin was flat on what was described by traders as a muted day in advance of a US holiday on Friday.
The house building sector bounced back from some weakness on Wednesday, with Cairn Homes and Glenveagh Properties each up 2 per cent. Cavan-based insulation specialist Kingspan, meanwhile, finished down 2 per cent.
Among the financial names, it was a better day for AIB and Bank of Ireland, which were each up 1.5 per cent.
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Ryanair, another heavyweight on the index, was down 0.5 per cent at close of business, after cancelling more than 400 flights following a two-day strike by air traffic controllers in France.
London
London’s main stock indexes closed higher as political tensions appeared to ease after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she’s “totally” up for the job, drawing support from prime minister Keir Starmer.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.6 per cent, while the midcap index gained 1.2 per cent.
Main FTSE stock indexes had declined on Wednesday in a marketwide sell-off after Reeves appeared tearful in parliament following a series of U-turns on welfare reforms that blew a hole in her budget plans.
Retail stocks topped the sectoral chart with a 2.2 per cent gain after electricals retailer Currys beat profit estimates on strong demand for mobile and computing products. Currys shares jumped 7.1 per cent, while peer AO World was up 1 per cent.
However, Watches of Switzerland fell 8 per cent and was among the top midcap decliners after the luxury retailer warned of a margin hit due to tariff pressures.
Pharmaceutical stocks were the sectoral losers, declining 1.3 per cent. AstraZeneca fell 1.8 per cent and GSK lost 1.1 per cent.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index climbed 0.4 per cent and kept MSCI’s main 47-country world shares gauge on course for its seventh record high in the last eight sessions.
Meanwhile, the Cac 40 in Paris closed up 0.1 per cent, while the Dax 40 in Frankfurt firmed 0.4 per cent.
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Euro zone government bond yields ended the day lower with the focus on events outside the currency bloc, after US jobs data blew past expectations, and the British gilt market after the previous day’s sharp sell-off there.
Germany’s 10-year bond yield closed down 4 basis points at 2.578 per cent, having touched an earlier low of 2.571 per cent.
New York
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touched fresh record highs after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report pointed to labour market resilience, while Nvidia looked set to become the most valuable company in history.
Nvidia rose as much as 2.4 per cent, putting it on track to become the world’s most valuable company in history, with the chipmaker’s market capitalisation nearing $4 trillion. Its shares were last up 1.6 per cent, trading at all-time highs.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq extended their record-winning session as signs of a resilient economy and easing trade tensions following a series of agreements between the United States and other countries continue to propel stocks higher.
The blue-chip Dow was just 0.8 per cent shy of all-time highs touched in December. All three main indexes were on track to end the holiday-truncated week on a positive note.
Shares of chip design software firms Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems climbed 5.1 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively, in premarket trading after the US lifted export restrictions on chip design software to China.
Tripadvisor climbed 16.3 per cent after the Wall Street Journal reported activist investor Starboard Value had built a more than 9 per cent stake in the online travel company.
Datadog jumped 13.5 per cent after the cloud security firm was set to replace Juniper Networks on the S&P 500. – Additional reporting: Agencies
