US stocks move higher despite surge in China’s Covid cases

US stocks moved sharply higher on Thursday, powered by a rebound in mega-cap growth stocks, while crude oil prices and the dollar slid as a surge of Covid cases in China fuelled fears of an economic downturn.

Dublin

Euronext Dublin was flat at the close of business on what was described by traders as a “very dull day” for the market, which lagged international peers.

The best performer on the day was Irish Ferries operator Irish Continental Group, which finished the day up 5 per cent at €4.39. However, it traded just 38,000 shares, whereas it might normally expect to trade a few hundred thousand units.

There was more volume in Dalata – the largest hotel operator in the State – which ended the day up 1 per cent at €3.265, having traded about 100,000 shares.

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Elsewhere, Glanbia finished up 1 per cent at €11.87, while C&C climbed 1.5 per cent. Paddy Power Betfair parent Flutter Entertainment, medtech group Uniphar, and budget airline Ryanair finished up 30, 80 and 60 basis points respectively.

One of the weakest names on the day was property company Ires Reit, which finished the day down 1.6 per cent at €1.10 after trading about 500,000 shares.

Also on the downside, Bank of Ireland closed down 50 basis points at €8.91, while Kerry Group was down 40 basis points at €85.36.

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London

The FTSE crawled back to positive territory as a strong opening on Wall Street helped to offset early worries over the latest wave of coronavirus in China.

Resilience among financial stocks helped the FTSE finish higher, as it helped to offset weakness among miners and tobacco firms during a broadly cautious session. The FTSE 100 finished the day up 0.2 per cent.

In company news, Ferrexpo dropped lower after one of its biggest shareholders was arrested in France.

Businessman and former Ukrainian MP Kostiantyn Zhevago was arrested by French police in the high-end Courchevel ski resort on Tuesday on an international arrest warrant.

The FTSE 250 firm stressed that the arrest was unrelated to the business, but shares still closed 5p lower at 159.5p.

Fellow miner Antofagasta was also among the fallers after it warned investors that access to its Los Pelambres operation has been blocked by a “small group of people”.

The firm, which predominantly runs mining operations in Chile, said the site in the Coquimbo region of the country is being blocked by a group who are requesting compensation in return for allowing access again. Shares in Antofagasta finished 34p lower as a result.

Allergy Therapeutics plunged in value after the West Sussex pharmaceutical business revealed its shares will be suspended next week following delays to the audit of its annual results.

Shares dropped by 6.375p to 5p on Thursday after the firm confirmed the stock will be suspended from Tuesday.

Europe

European shares reversed earlier losses to follow their US counterparts higher.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.57 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.14 per cent.

The German Dax improved 1.05 per cent by the end of the session and the French Cac finished 0.97 per cent higher.

New York

Technology and growth stocks lifted Wall Street’s main indexes higher after data pointing to signs of a cooling US labour market eased worries about future interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon, whose shares have been battered in the past few sessions, gained more than 2 per cent each, with traders attributing the rise to bargain hunting.

All the major S&P 500 sector indexes rose, with consumer discretionary and technology leading the pack with a near 3 per cent rise.

Tesla shares rose 8.3 per cent after chief executive Elon Musk told staff they should not be “bothered by stock market craziness”. The stock is still down 66 per cent for the year. – Additional reporting: Agencies