The euro dropped to two-week lows after a Greek official said the country may miss a debt repayment, but stock markets in the US and Europe held near recent highs as traders awaited signals on Federal Reserve interest rate shifts.
DUBLIN
The Irish exchange managed a modest gain, rising 7.89 points on the Iseq index or 0.13 per cent to finish a little north of 6,295. Heavy volumes of shares were traded in
Bank of Ireland
and
Independent News & Media.
Ahead of talks today with Minister for Finance Michael Noonan on its mortgage pricing, Bank of Ireland finished unchanged at 36.4 cent at the end of a day in which more than 24 million shares were traded.
Permanent TSB, which also meets the Minister today, saw its stock drop 1.33 per cent to €4.46 but volumes were thinner. Some 1.3 shares changed hands.
INM, which delivered a trading update on Tuesday, saw its stock rise 1 cent or 5.41 per cent to 19.5 cent with a little more than 20 million shares traded on the day.
Ryanair dropped 1.55 per cent to €10.79 but only 1.3 million shares were traded. Aer Lingus, still the subject of a bid from the owner of British Airways, was off 1.16 per cent at €2.379 and more than 6 million shares were traded.
More than one million CRH shares changed hands as it eased 0.54 per cent to €25.91. Smurfit Kappa added 1.75 per cent to €29.01.
Albeit on slim volumes, Abbey dropped 4.41 per cent to €11.59 and Providence slipped 4.44 per cent to finish at 37.86 cent. Paddy Power, down 1.12 per cent, closed at €80.98.
LONDON
Bid talk surrounding mobile phone giant
Vodafone
saw it lead the FTSE 100 index higher as it crept above the 7,000-mark. The group topped the risers’ board after John Malone, chairman of US cable group
Liberty Global
and a big investor in Irish assets, said it would make “a great fit”. Mr Malone’s remarks sent
Vodafone
shares up 5 per cent, or 12.2p, to 238.8p.
The FTSE 100 Index closed 12.2 points higher at 7007.3 in a session that saw traders react to the release of a batch corporate results, including the first profits rise at Marks & Spencer in four years. Meanwhile Barclays shares rose 3 per cent, or 8.8p, to 271.6p. Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland, which agreed to pay a further $669 million to US authorities, on top of other penalties, was also up. Shares climbed 6.2p to 354.7p.
EUROPE
European markets jumped to near multi-year highs after European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure talked of adjusting the bank’s bond-buying programme. He said the speed of the recent spike in bond yields was worrisome. It has effectively wiped out the benefits of quantitative easing, he said, and the ECB could “moderately” increase its buying in May and June, and possibly in September.
His comments pushed the euro back below $1.12 for the first time in a week. The FTSEurofirst 300 ended up 1.7 percent. Gains of more than 2 percent on Germany’s DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris outpaced a 0.38 percent rise on London’s FTSE. European bond yields tumbled, with benchmark 10-year German Bunds down 4 basis points at 0.61 percent after going as low as 0.55 percent.
NEW YORK
US stocks were little changed, staying near their record highs, in quiet afternoon trading as investors waited for the minutes from last month’s Federal Reserve meeting for hints on when interest rates will be increased.
Stock market volumes have been subdued in recent sessions ahead of the details of the April 28th-29th policy meeting and as the quarterly earnings season draws to a close. While the Fed is broadly expected to raise rates this year, the timing of the move has kept the market on tenterhooks.
– Additional reporting: Reuters/Bloomberg/PA
