European equities advanced on Wednesday after Germany announced plans to rip up EU spending rules and invest hundreds of billions of euro in defence and infrastructure, sending defence stocks surging.
Reports that US president Donald Trump could look to water down sweeping US tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports also provided relief for investors, although markets remain nervous of a further deterioration in trade relations.
DUBLIN
The Iseq index moved 2.9 per cent higher, propelled by an almost 6.9 per cent jump in AIB to €6.93 per share after the bank reported a 14 per cent surge in net profits for last year to €2.35 billion.
The lender also unveiled plans to buy back a further €1.2 billion of shares from the Government, well above the €760 million that analysts expected.
Shares in its main rival Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, rose by 4.9 per cent to €11.69 per share.
Ryanair climbed 3.6 per cent higher to €20.81 while Kingspan advanced by 6.9 per cent to €81.70 per share and Uniphar closed almost 5.8 per cent higher.
EUROPE
The EU’s plan to relax spending rules continued to propel European equities, with the blue-chip Stoxx 50 index up by almost 1.9 per cent and the cross-continental Stoxx 600 up by close to 1 per cent.
Stocks geared toward the German economy jumped after the German ambassador to the EU reportedly told other national envoys on Wednesday that Berlin wanted to overhaul EU debt and deficit limits to allow for increased defence spending.
The country’s mid-cap MDAX Index surged as much as 6.9 per cent – the most since March 2020.
That was led by construction firms such as Bilfinger and Hochtief, up 24 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. Defence companies such as Rheinmetall added to a stellar rally this year, while heavyweights Deutsche Bank and Siemens were both up over 8 per cent.
European stocks have been among the best performers in the world this year, as investors bet on stimulus and a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
LONDON
British stocks stabilised on Wednesday afternoon following a sell-off in the previous session, leaving the benchmark FTSE 100 index down just 0.1 per cent while the mid-cap FTSE 250 advanced by 0.9 per cent.
Dollar earners Unilever and British American Tobacco, off by 1.7 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively, weighed on the index as the sterling jumped to a four-month high against the US dollar.
Falling crude prices also depressed the oil majors with BP flat on the session and Shell down by 1.5 per cent.
Defence stocks, meanwhile, surged amid reports that the UK could join a European intergovernmental fund to to increase the Continent’s “rearmament”, as EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said over the weekend.
BAE was up by 3.3 per cent while Rolls-Royce advanced by 2.4 per cent.
Even war-games-maker Games Workshop forged ahead, adding 3.4 per cent, after it forecast 2025 profit above expectations.
NEW YORK
At the close in Europe, Wall Street’s main indices were all trending higher with the Nasdaq Composite, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average all in green territory.
Investors took heart from better-than-expected services data, which allayed worries of a slowdown in the world’s largest economy. Further relief came from US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who said in an interview that Mr Trump was considering granting some relief on imports of items such as cars and auto parts that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada free-trade agreement.
Carmakers Ford rose 3.2 per cent, General Motors added 4.8 per cent and Tesla gained 1.8 per cent, after logging sharp declines in the previous session.
Moving in the opposite direction, chipmaker Intel dropped 2.1 per cent following Mr Trump’s remarks that lawmakers should get rid of a law offering subsidies to the semiconductor industry. – Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters
