European values advance on back of solid earnings data and interest rate-cut hopes

European shares ended a data-packed week on an upbeat note with stellar earnings updates and hopes of imminent rate cuts by the European Central Bank lifting investors’ appetite for risky assets.

DUBLIN

Financial stock ended the week on a high note, with AIB adding 1.5 per cent and Bank of Ireland gaining 1.8 per cent by the end of the session. Permanent TSB was up 3.8 per cent, closing the week at €1.65. Insurance company FBD gained almost 2.9 per cent to finish at €12.50, having earlier in the week increased its guidance on profits.

Food group stocks fared less well on Friday. Kerry Group lost 2.15 per cent by the closing bell. The company said on Thursday its revenue fell in 2023 as changes in foreign exchange rates hit figures, and its Irish dairy unit remained a drag on the business. Glanbia, meanwhile, declined 1.2 per cent, closing at €15.61.

Construction stocks also slid, with Glenveagh Properties down 1.6 per cent, Kingspan off 0.85 per cent and Cairn Homes falling 0.4 per cent.

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Shares in travel companies were mixed, with ferries operator Irish Continental Group declining just under 1 per cent, while Ryanair was up 0.7 per cent.

LONDON

UK shares advanced on Friday, driven by gains in miners and banks, with the indexes posting weekly gains as investors remained optimistic about potential interest rate cuts from the Bank of England after recent economic data.

The FTSE 100 ended up 1.5 per cent, logging its biggest daily gain in four months. The mid-cap FTSE 250 added 0.5 per cent.

Shares of Natwest jumped 7.4 per cent after the lender confirmed Paul Thwaite as its permanent chief executive on Friday and reported forecast-beating profit for 2023.

Among stocks, Segro advanced 1.9 per cent after the warehousing group cited optimistic prospects for its investment market business in 2024 and posted a better-than-expected annual profit.

EUROPE

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6 per cent to hit a fresh two-year high, led by miners, which jumped 2.5 per cent this week and touched a two-week high.

Shares of Metso Corp jumped 9.0 per cent after the Finnish mining equipment maker reported a fourth-quarter profit beat and gave an optimistic outlook for its aggregates unit.

Sika rose 2.8 per cent after the Swiss construction chemical maker reported annual earnings in line with analyst estimates on Friday and said it expects sales to increase 6 per cent to 9 per cent in 2024.

Nibe Industrier dropped 13.4 per cent to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 as the Swedish heat pump maker said its weaker performance would continue in the first half of 2024 after it saw a decline in demand in the second half of last year.

ASML Holdings was up 1.6 per cent after semiconductor equipment supplier Applied Materials forecast better-than-expected second-quarter revenue on strong demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence.

NEW YORK

Wall Street’s main indexes were subdued on Friday after a hotter-than-expected producer prices report pushed back market speculations of imminent interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.

Most mega-cap stocks dropped, with Meta Platforms falling 1.8 per cent and dragging the S&P 500 communication services index down 1.1 per cent.

At 16:30 Irish time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 31.97 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 38,741.15, the S&P 500 was up 1.65 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 5,031.38, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 19.62 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 15,886.56.

Applied Materials jumped 8.5 per cent to a record high after the semiconductor equipment supplier forecast better-than-expected second-quarter revenue on strong demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence.

Roku slumped 22.5 per cent after forecasting a bigger first-quarter loss, while crypto exchange Coinbase Global jumped 15.8 per cent on posting its first quarterly profit since 2021.

DoorDash dropped 9.6 per cent as the delivery firm forecasted a quarterly profitability metric below expectations, hurt by higher labour costs.

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