Global shares fell for a third straight session and were poised for a third consecutive weekly decline on Friday while bond yields rose on worries the Iran war would keep upward pressure on oil prices and rekindle inflation.
Dublin
The Irish market ended the week in the red, tracking global developments as market turmoil triggered by the US war in Iran continued. The Euronext Dublin lost 1.7 per cent over the session, ending the week at 11,881.
Banking shares fell, with AIB declining almost 2.4 per cent and Bank of Ireland down 2.6 per cent. PTSB lost close to 3 per cent over the session.
Market heavyweights Kerry Group and Glanbia were also off the pace, losing just under 1 per cent each.
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Construction stocks were mixed, with insulation specialist Kingspan adding 1.5 per cent. Home builders Glenveagh and Cairn ended the week lower, losing 1.8 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively.
Travel stocks were also hit by the ongoing volatility. Ryanair shares lost 2.5 per cent, closing at €23.59, while Irish Continental Group’s stock shed 2.15 per cent
London
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed down 1.4 per cent, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 1 per cent. Both indexes also fell for a third straight session.
Oil prices rose more than 1 per cent on the day as the three-week-old Iran war showed no signs of abating, with the US preparing to send thousands of additional troops to the Middle East in the coming weeks.
British energy stocks slipped 1.7 per cent, but were still around record-high levels.
Among other movers, Smiths Group plunged 9.8 per cent, in its steepest single-day fall since 2021, after the engineering group missed half-year organic revenue forecasts.
JD Wetherspoon fell 10.6 per cent following the pub chain saying its full-year profits may fall below market estimates after higher energy costs and wage-related taxes dragged first-half profit down by 37 per cent.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dropped 1.8 per cent, notching up a third straight week of declines.
Major global brokerages see a higher likelihood of the European Central Bank delivering rate hikes, potentially as early as April, after policymakers warned that the Middle East war is driving renewed inflation risks.
Euro zone government bond yields rose for a third day in a row, while Germany’s two-year yield, which is up around 65 basis points for the month, was last up 9.2 bps at 2.661 per cent.
The Cac 40 in Paris closed down 1.8 per cent, while the Dax 40 in Frankfurt ended 1.9 per cent lower.
New York
Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Friday to multi-month lows as the Iran war entered its fourth week, roiling energy markets and forcing investors to aggressively rethink the Federal Reserve’s next policy move.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 210.29 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 45,811.14, the S&P 500 lost 46.79 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 6,559.70 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 218.59 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 21,872.10.
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index, spiked 1.17 points to 25.31.
Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes were in the red, led by bond proxies real estate and utilities, which fell over 2 per cent each.
Irish-led Horizon Quantum Computing made its debut on the Nasdaq, with chief executive Joe Fitzsimons and Si-Hui Tan, Horizon Quantum’s chief science officer, ringing the opening bell. The company’s shares opened at $12 (€10), dropping to $10.51 in the afternoon.
Super Micro Computer tumbled 28 per cent after three people associated with the artificial intelligence server maker were charged with smuggling at least $2.5 billion of AI technology to China. Rival Dell advanced 6 per cent.
FedEx, often seen as a barometer of business activity, issued upbeat forecasts and said global demand was holding steady despite geopolitical tensions, sending its shares up 1.9 per cent. Rival United Parcel Service added 0.6 per cent. – Additional reporting: Reuters, PA
