European stock markets recovered from a weak start yesterday, with a rally in banks and a rebound on Wall Street helping to counteract some weak corporate earnings from companies including Swiss hearing aid maker Sonova.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.8 per cent to 337.46, after earlier sliding as much as 0.5 per cent.
DUBLIN
The Iseq index rose 0.4 per cent to 6,190.4 points in a day of trading marked by a dearth of local tradable newsflow, according to dealers.
Applegreen increased 3.4 per cent to €4.55 after SSP, a British food and beverage retailer at airports and train stations, reported a 3.3 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the first half.
"While the overlap with Applegreen from a passenger perspective is limited, both companies are benefitting from the long-term structural growth of food services in travel locations," said Patrick Higgins, a Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst.
Kingspan rose 2.5 per cent to €23.85 after Marshalls, a UK paving maker of landscaping products, said it is confident of achieving its earnings expectations for 2016 and that the overall outlook for the market remains positive.
Bucking the trend, Permanent TSB fell 1 per cent to €1.90, as investors continued to worry about political interference in the setting of mortgage rates. Bank of Ireland, however, ended the session unchanged at 23.5 cents.
LONDON
Britain’s top share index slipped from a two-week high on Wednesday as luxury goods firm
Burberry
fell 2.7 per cent after a slump in its profits and miners tracked weaker metals prices.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was flat in percentage terms at its close at 6,165.80 points after rising on Tuesday to its highest level since May 3. The benchmark index is down 1.4 percent so far this year.
Burberry dropped 2.7 per cent after saying it would overhaul its retail operations and simplify its product range, as its full-year profit slipped 10 percent.
The group also said it expected the market to remain challenging this year, meaning profit is likely to come in towards the bottom of market forecasts.
Among sectors, miners were hit hard after copper prices sank to their lowest since mid-February as the dollar rallied after a stream of encouraging US economic data supported the case for more rate rises this year.
The UK mining index fell 2.3 per cent, the top sectoral decliner. Shares in Anglo American, Antofagasta , Glencore, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell 2 to 3.6 per cent.
On the positive side, banking stocks were in demand. Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays all rose between 3.7 per cent and over 4 per cent.
EUROPE
Banks were among the top gainers across Europe, too, with the sector rising 2 percent.
Italian banks rallied, benefiting from ongoing speculation of consolidation among some of Italy’s smaller banks.
Portuguese lender BPI rose 2.3 per cent, to trade above €1.11, which was Caixabank's offer for the bank. While BPI welcomed the bid from its Spanish peer when it came in late on Tuesday, it said the offer was "low", leading some traders to speculate as to whether a higher bid might be forthcoming.
Despite the rally, the European market is down so far in 2016, with concerns about a China-led global economic slowdown having impacted world stock markets this year.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs also cut its view on global equities, downgrading the asset class to “neutral”.
NEW YORK
Wall Street was higher in afternoon trading as the prospect of higher interest rates set off a rally in financial stocks that countered a fall in retail shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.57 per cent, at 17,629.42, the S&P 500 was up 0.61 per cent, at 2,059.65.
