Business

Global shares steady ahead of busy week for central banks

Ryanair closes just below the €21 threshold for share option payout to Michael O’Leary

Ryanair's 1.5% surge saw it perform better than most rivals in the airline sector and brought its share price close to the €21 threshold triggering a share option payout for Michael O’Leary. Photograph: RollingNews.ie

Colin Gleeson
Tue Mar 19 2024 - 18:34

Global shares steadied on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan met market expectations by ending eight years of negative interest rates, likely the highlight of a busy week for central banks.

Dublin

Euronext Dublin outperformed international peers as it climbed 70 basis points overall, but within that it was a day of fluctuating fortunes for constituent stocks.

Ryanair closed up 1.5 per cent, which was ahead of all its peers with the exception of Aer Lingus parent International Airlines Group, which finished up 2 per cent.

“Ryanair finished slightly below that magic €21 which is where the share option payout to Michael O’Leary kicks in,” a trader noted. “It did get above that level for a time today, which was the first time we’ve seen that for some time, but it did close lower at €20.88.”

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Among the financials Bank of Ireland was the outperformer as it traded above €9.08, up 1.77 per cent on the session. Permanent TSB’s struggles of recent weeks continued as it slid 4.73 per cent to €1.31, while AIB was down 0.59 per cent at close of business on €4.756.

In terms of the builders Glenveagh Properties was down 1.27 per cent at €1.248, while Cairn Homes climbed 26 basis points to €1.568.

Dalata Group – the biggest hotel group in the State – dropped 3.9 per cent to end the day on €4.40. “They have had a very good run in recent times and there were a number of buyers around last week who now seem to have completed their business,” a trader said.

Insulation-maker Kingpan finished up 40 basis points at €83.86, with investors unfazed by European Commission allegations it intentionally or negligently misled competition regulators during their investigation of its now-abandoned bid for Slovenian business Trimo.

London

The FTSE 100 moved a more modest 0.2 per cent higher, with investors in good spirits ahead of an expected drop in the rate of UK inflation and a strong session for consumer goods giant Unilever.

Unilever shares were up by 3 per cent after the company announced an overhaul which includes spinning off its ice cream business and axing 7,500 jobs around the world. AJ Bell head of financial analysis, Danni Hewson, said: “Unilever has topped the FTSE 100 after announcing thousands of job cuts and doubling down on its promise to do fewer things.”

The gains helped offset bigger losses for rival consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, with shares trading about 4.5 per cent lower.

In other company news shares in DFS were down 6 per cent after the furniture retailer cut its sales and profits targets for the year, citing weaker demand over the past two months.

Europe

European stocks ended higher on Tuesday, buoyed by strength in financial and energy sectors, while investors turned their focus to upcoming interest rate decisions from global central banks, including the US Federal Reserve.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.3 per cent, snapping a three-day losing streak. The energy sector was among the top gainers with an 1.4 per cent advance as oil prices hit four-month highs.

Financial stocks were a big boost, with the banking index climbing 1.1 per cent, led by gains in Germany’s Commerzbank.

New York

The tech-laden Nasdaq dipped with chip stocks falling to lows not seen in over two-week, while the benchmark S&P 500 was subdued as focus turned to the Fed’s policy meeting.

Investor darling Nvidia fell 1.5 per cent after the company unveiled the Blackwell B200, an AI chip it says is up to 30 times faster than its previous chip. Some investors suggested the news was priced into the high-flying stock.

Fellow chipmakers such as Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell Technology and Intel shed between 2.3 per cent and 6.1 per cent, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor index dipped 2.1 per cent to its lowest since February.

Tesla and Meta Platforms eased more than 1 per cent each, lagging most megacap growth stocks. Meanwhile, the Dow outpaced its Wall Street peers, supported by gains in Home Depot and McDonald’s.

By lunchtime, stocks on Wall Street had reversed some of those earlier losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.68 per cent, the S&P 500 gaining 0.35 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite adding 0.21 per cent. – Additional reporting: Agencies

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

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