Euro zone's blue chip index advances Iseq finishes session up 0.6% as DCC agrees BP acquisition
Eurostoxx 50: 2,577.08 (+0.94%) Paris CAC: 3,530.72 (+0.59%) Frankfurt DAX: 7,451.62 (+0.84%)THE DUBLIN market performed as well as its continental European peers and bettered the performance of its counterpart in London yesterday.
The Iseq index finished the day up 0.6 per cent, having climbed steadily all week. It closed at 3,343.55, having opened the week at 3,303.13.
The euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was up 0.5 per cent. The index has surged 18 per cent over the past two months, boosted by the European Central Bank’s plan to buy sovereign bonds to lower the borrowing costs of debt-stricken euro zone countries, as well as the US Federal Reserve’s stimulus measures.
DUBLIN
ENERGY AND distribution specialist DCC announced that it has agreed to buy BP’s liquefied petroleum gas distribution business in the Netherlands and Belgium in a deal worth €24.5 million.
The deal is expected to close later this year, provided it gets the go ahead from competition regulators in the Netherlands.
The move expands DCC’s business in the Benelux region and comes only weeks after it announced it would buy BP’s LPG business in Britain. DCC advanced 0.22 per cent, to close at €22.
Ryanair held its AGM in the Airport Radisson Hotel in Dublin, where chief executive Michael O’Leary reiterated the company’s full-year outlook. He also said he was confident the bid for Aer Lingus would pass any competition concerns. Ryanair closed at €4.46, a fall of 0.38 per cent. Aer Lingus closed at €1.04, a rise of 1.75 per cent.
The sharpest drop yesterday was with Independent News and Media, which finished at €0.13, a fall of 7.53 per cent.
Builders suppliers and DIY group Grafton was the best performer of the day, closing up 3.94 per cent, at €3.43.
Market heavyweight CRH rose by 0.77 per cent, to close the week at €15.65.
LONDON
THE FTSE 100 Index closed little changed, capping the benchmark gauge’s first weekly decline this month.
Xstrata and Glencore International fell as the companies requested a one-week extension for directors to decide on the commodity trader’s $35 billion takeover offer.
Vedanta Resources and Evraz paced advancing shares as metal prices climbed. Pearson rose the most in five months after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the publisher.
Vodafone added 2 per cent to 178.45p after Barclays increased its share-price target to 200p from 195p and reiterated a buy recommendation.
