Markets weak due to lack of progress on US shutdown

Markets across the globe were weak yesterday, as investors continue to take a wait and see position on what might happen in the US, as House speaker John Boehner rules out raising the federal government's debt limit without setting preconditions.

DUBLIN
The Irish market tracked its European peers yesterday, finishing the day down by seven points, at 4,271.49.

Bank of Ireland was an out-performer, advancing by about 3 per cent to climb to €0.23. Volumes in the bank were average, at about 35 million shares traded. Elsewhere however, volumes were thin.

Ryanair also performed better than its low-cost European peers on the day, adding 3 cent, or 0.5 per cent, to close down by 0.5 per cent, or three cent, at €6.22.

CRH went a little better yesterday, albeit on light volumes. It added 0.3 per cent, or six cent, to finish up at €17.57.

Drinks group C&C had a reasonable day, adding four cent, or almost 1 per cent to climb to €4.25. Paddy Power got weaker as the day went on, eventually closing down by €1.05, or 1.7 per cent, at €59.13.

EUROPE
European stocks dropped to their lowest level in four weeks, as a lack of progress in the US rattled investors. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.3 per cent to 308.93, after earlier falling as much as 1 per cent, while Germany's DAX slipped by 0.4 per cent, and France's CAC 40 declined 0.2 per cent.

“Everyone assumed there would be more action over the US shutdown and debt-ceiling talks over the weekend, and now reality has set in,” Veronika Pechlaner, at the Jersey, Channel Islands-based Ashburton said.

SAP declined 2.3 per cent to €52.85. The world's biggest enterprise-software company, along with Cisco Systems and Google, has held talks to buy all or part of BlackBerry, Reuters reported. The Canadian phonemaker had asked for expressions of interest from potential buyers as an alternative to the tentative agreement it reached with a financial group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings on September 23rd.

Solvay gained 1.3 per cent to €108.85 after saying it will buy Chemlogics for $1.35 billion in cash. The acquisition will generate cash and earnings in its first year, according to a statement by the Belgian maker of gelling agents used in hydraulic fracturing.

LONDON
UK stocks dropped, following a second weekly loss for the benchmark index. The FTSE 100 Index lost 16.6 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6,437.28 at the close of trading in London, paring a drop of as much as 1 per cent.

Burberry slid 1.2 per cent after the luxury retailer's chief executive told French newspaper Les Echos that "this Chinese slowdown is perhaps not an accident, but the new given". The Asia Pacific region accounted for 39 per cent of the company's sales in the 12 months through March 2013.

"Burberry has a good brand ... [but] we get more nervous when companies have grown very fast in new markets as it creates more risk . . . " said David Crawford, fund manager at City Financial.

Fresnillo rose 2 per cent as UBS advised investors to buy the shares.

Marks & Spencer declined 2.8 per cent to 480.1 pence after Credit Suisse estimated that the UK food- and-clothing retailer's same-store sales fell 1.5 per cent in the second quarter of its financial year. The brokerage had forecast a 0.5 per cent increase. Marks & Spencer reports its first-half results on November 5th.

US
US stocks fell, after the first back-to-back weekly decline since August for the S&P's 500 Index, as lawmakers remained deadlocked over extending the nation's debt limit to avoid a default.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo paced declines among banks, each slipping 1.4 per cent in early trading. – (Additional reporting Bloomberg /Reuters)