Stocks nudge up in subdued Thanksgiving trade

European stocks rose, extending a third consecutive monthly advance, as Rio Tinto Group and Boliden led mining companies higher, and banking stocks also rose. Asian markets were stronger overnight, with the positive mood continuing as European traders reached their desks. Italian shares outperformed after the country's senate expelled former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, fuelling hopes of stability for the current government.

However, with US stock markets closed for Thanksgiving, the volume of shares traded was lower than average, and activity is likely to remain subdued again today.

DUBLIN
The Iseq closed up modestly as most of the major stocks climbed, but it was a thin market, with only a small handful of companies achieving meaningful volume.

One of those was Ryanair, which held its recent gains, and closed up 1.2 per cent at €6.18, while Bank of Ireland was also the beneficiary of upward momentum in the financial sector, with its share price finishing up 1.1 per cent at 27 cent.

Building materials group Kingspan, which has been struggling to breach the €12.50 level in recent times, pushed through that level to close at €12.65, a gain of 1.3 per cent, as investors concluded its focus on the business sector meant it was not as exposed to the ending of a UK lending stimulus scheme as other sector stocks.

There were also advances for paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa, which rose 0.9 per cent to €17.57, and Aer Lingus, which finished at €1.37, up 0.7 per cent. Drinks group C&C underperformed the market, slipping 1.1 per cent to €4.41, its second consecutive daily loss.

LONDON
Heavyweight miner Rio Tinto helped keep the FTSE 100 in positive territory, offsetting weakness in housebuilders. The FTSE 100 crawled up 0.1 per cent after earlier gaining as much as 0.5 per cent.

Rio Tinto rose 3.9 per cent to 3,261 pence after agreeing to increase iron ore output capacity. The world’s second biggest miner added 8 points on its own to the FTSE 100 as investors responded bullishly to the company’s new growth plans.

Housebuilders slid after the Bank of England ended incentives that helped stimulate mortgage lending. Persimmon slumped 6.1 per cent to 1,170 pence after governor Mark Carney changed the central bank's Funding for Lending Scheme and said it would only apply to business lending from 2014.

Barratt Developments lost 4.9 per cent to 329.9 pence, and Bovis Homes Group slid 5.5 per cent to 777 pence.

Thomas Cook rallied to its highest price since January 2011 after the tour operator posted a 49 per cent jump in full-year earnings. The stock closed up 15 per cent at 175.7 pence.

Imperial Tobacco Group and British American Tobacco slipped 1.9 per cent to 2,316 pence and 0.7 per cent to 3,250.5 pence respectively as Jane Ellison, a health minister, indicated the UK government was considering introducing plain packaging for cigarettes.

EUROPE
National benchmark indexes rose in 15 of the 18 western-European markets, with France's Cac 40 closing up 0.2 per cent and Germany's Dax adding 0.4 per cent.

Milan's FTSE MIB rose 0.9 per cent, led by banks UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI Banca, up 1.7-2.2 per cent.

Boliden, a Swedish copper and zinc producer, rose 4.8 per cent to 95 kronor, after analysts at Morgan Stanley raised the rating on the shares to overweight, similar to a buy recommendation.

A gauge of European banks listed on the Stoxx 600 rose 0.9 per cent, the second largest advance among 19 industry groups behind basic resources.

Among the climbers Banco Comercial Portugues added 4.9 per cent to 12.7 euro cents, while Commerzbank advanced 2.1 per cent to €10.77. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg / Reuters)