Shares broke their losing streak on Friday as investors shrugged off concerns about a likely US rate hike next month, sending markets rising across Europe.
Dublin
The Irish market rose in line with the rest of Europe, led by the banks, which traders said had been over-sold on concerns about political efforts to limit variable mortgage rate increases.
Permanent TSB climbed 2.17 per cent to end the day on €1.88. Bank of Ireland added 2.92 per cent to close at 24.7 cent.
Index heavyweight CRH rose 1.65 per cent to €26.45. News released late on Friday that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is to appeal a High Court ruling barring it from using some documents seized from CRH subsidiary, Irish Cement, appeared to have no impact.
Ryanair, which is due to report full-year results on Monday, was down almost 1.5 per cent in the early afternoon but recovered to close marginally up at €13.21.
Service station chain Applegreen added 1.47 per cent to €4.475 after telling shareholders that it made a positive start to 2016.
Irish Continental Group jumped 1.61 per cent to €5.12 and CPL added 1.05 per cent to €5.76. Davy Stockbrokers upped its guidance for CPL and re-affirmed its targets for Irish Continental Group.
London
Britain’s top share index ended sharply higher on Friday, with bottling company Coca-Cola HBC rallying on the prospects of a margin recovery and commodities stocks partially recovering after slumping in the previous two straight sessions.
Atlantic Homecare owner and builders' merchant Grafton rose 2.6 per cent to close at 712 pence sterling. Tullow Oil climbed 1.98 per cent to 247 pence on what was a good day for energy and commodity-related stocks.
Bookmaker Ladbrokes surged 6.5 per cent to 127.3 pence after the British competition regulator said that it and Gala Coral would have to sell between 350 to 400 betting shops to win clearance for their proposed a merger. Traders said that the number of shops the two firms would have to sell were less than expected.
Coca-Cola HBC jumped 6.4 percent after Citigroup raised its rating on the stock to "buy" saying that concerns, which included a potential naira devaluation and rising world sugar prices, were priced in and the company had the potential for a visible margin recovery opportunity.
Miners Anglo American, Glencore, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Antofagasta rose between 0.4 percent and 3.6 percent.
Electrical engineering company Spectris dropped 4.4 percent, hitting a three-month low after posting a softer first-quarter results. The company said that trading conditions in the period continued to be challenging, and reiterated its 2016 outlook.
Europe
Novartis climbed 1.8 per cent after the UK affirmed its backing of a cancer treatment, helping a measure of health companies post the best performance of the 19 industry groups on the
UniCredit added 7.6 per cent, leading gains among banks, after people familiar with the matter said it may sell a stake in its online broker FinecoBank and review holdings in Poland and Turkey to raise capital.
Financier Richemont slid 4.3 per cent to its lowest price since October 2012 after the maker of Cartier jewellery and IWC Schaffhausen timepieces forecast a difficult first half after sales plunged 18 per cent in April. Rival Swatch Group dropped 2.8 per cent to its lowest since July 2010.
Greece's ASE Index added 2.8 percent, for the biggest gain among western-European exchanges, as the International Monetary Fund proposed that the Mediterranean nation shouldn't make payments on its European bailout loans until 2040.
US
US stocks were higher in trading on Friday, with the S&P and Dow on track to eke out their first weekly gains in five weeks as technology and financial stocks rose. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was up 1.13 percent and was on track to end five straight weeks of losses boosted by gains in Microsoft and Apple.
InterOil jumped 39 per cent to $44.10 after Oil Search agreed to buy the company for $2.2 billion. Deere & Co's shares fell 4.9 percent to $78.25 after the farm equipment maker cut its full-year profit outlook. Campbell Soup was down 6.4 percent at $59.83 after the company reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales.
