European stocks climbed, paring a third weekly decline, as concern abated that Britain will exit the EU and energy shares followed oil higher.
Odds on a Brexit fell for a third day. Italian and Greek lenders, among the worst-hit earlier this week, led gains on Friday. Commodity and energy producers also rallied, tracking gains in oil and metal prices.
After a tumultuous week, US stocks were lower in early New York trading led by Apple, though MSCI's all-country world stock index was up 0.5 per cent and the FTSEurofirst 300 gained 1.1 per cent.
DUBLIN
The Iseq ended the week in positive territory as the index rebalanced following Thursday’s poor close.
Bank of Ireland performed strongly having ended down 3 per cent on Thursday. It outperformed its peers across the banking sector on Friday, closing up 10 per cent to 24 cent.
Ryanair, which also suffered on Thursday due to its heavy exposure to the UK economy, bounced back to finish up 2.6 per cent at €12.82.
Housing-related stocks recovered with Hibernia Reit gaining 3 per cent to close at €1.21 and Green Reit up 2 per cent to €1.38.
Other notable performers included Smurfit Kappa, up 2 per cent to €22.01 and Kerry, down 1 per cent to €76.70.
LONDON
Britain’s top share index rose from a four-month low on Friday, as stocks that have been hardest hit by concerns over a possible British exit from the EU rebounded after campaigning was suspended following the killing of
Labour
MP
Jo Cox
.
The FTSE 100 rose 70.61 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 6,021.09 points. It remained down 1.5 per cent for the week and posted its third straight week of falls. Banks were among the top gainers, with Lloyds, Standard Chartered, Barclays, and RBS up 3.7 per cent to 6 per cent.
Energy shares contributed around 12 points to the FTSE 100’s rise, as Brent crude rose for the first time in over a week.
Among the top fallers, National Grid retreated 0.3 per cent after a bearish broker note from Credit Suisse, which cut its price target on the stock, and a call from British politicians for an independent operator to take over the company's role running the country's energy transmission network.
EUROPE
European stocks climbed with the pound amid a second day of declining bookmaker odds that Britain will secede from the EU.
Treasuries fell as demand for havens cooled. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index headed for its biggest gain in three weeks, while sterling recovered from a two-month low after campaigning over whether the UK should quit the EU was suspended a second day after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Among shares active on corporate news, Gamesa Tecnologica rallied 5.6 per cent after getting approval to combine its turbine business with Siemens in a deal that would create the world's third-largest maker of windmills.
Randgold Resources, which jumped 10 per cent in the past seven days amid demand for gold as a haven, declined 4.6 per cent.
NEW YORK
Apple
fell 2 per cent to $95.59 in early trading after
Bloomberg
reported that the tech giant may have to halt the sales of its latest iPhones in Beijing after the devices were found to have violated a Chinese rival’s patent.
Google's parent Alphabet was down 2.7 per cent at $704.87.
Oracle rose 2.1 per cent to $39.47 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading down 107.04 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 17,626.06. The S&P 500 was down 12.49 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 2,065.5. The Nasdaq Composite was down 45.46 points, or 0.94 per cent, at 4,799.46.
– Additional reporting: agencies
