Global stocks were mostly down and oil slipped on Tuesday as declining factory activity in the euro zone and China tempered investors’ optimism over US economic prospects and a likely end to Fed rate hikes.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin finished down about 0.4 per cent as it was dragged by some of its heavier hitters.
Paddy Power Betfair parent Flutter Entertainment was down 2 per cent at close of business, while building materials giant CRH was flat on the day.
Budget airline Ryanair was up slightly, while AIB and Bank of Ireland recovered from a weak morning to finish flat and up 0.3 per cent respectively.
Elsewhere, Kerry Group was up 2.6 per cent, while Dalata, the largest hotel operator in the country, was flat on the day after trading in good volumes. “Dalata has been a little bit weak and was down earlier in the day, but it recovered well,” a trader noted.
“We have Smurfit Kappa, Kerry Group and Permanent TSB all reporting results on Wednesday so it was a quiet day, and a little bit of a case of investors waiting for those results on Wednesday,” he added.
London
The FTSE 100 started the month down 0.43 per cent after gaining about 2.2 per cent during July, its best month since April.
The top index was weighed down by losses for insurers, miners and some banking stocks, and not offset by gains for HSBC.
In company news, fast-food outlet Greggs saw its shares drop to the bottom of the FTSE 250 after it revealed its half-year results.
The company’s shares fell 7.2 per cent as investors were seen taking profits from the business, whose shares are still up by more than 7 per cent since the start of the year, despite Tuesday’s fall.
Shares in banking giant HSBC peaked at a four-year high after announcing bumper profits and a big share buyback.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Weir Group, up 39.5p to 1,874.5p; Rightmove, up 10.2p to 580.6p; Centrica, up 1.9p to 139.95p; HSBC, up 8.6p to 654.9p; and Auto Trader, up 5.4p to 651.4p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Beazley, down 28p to 520.5p; Fresnillo, down 27.2p to 591p; JD Sports, down 4.45p to 153.25p; Endeavour Mining, down 50p to 1,830p; and NatWest Group, down 6.1p to 238.2p.
Europe
Stocks on the continent lagged amid new data showing Germany’s manufacturing sector slumped last month as the sector feels the impact of waning demand.
Germany’s top stock index, the Dax, sank by 1.26 per cent, while France’s Cac 40 also fell by 1.22 per cent.
New York
Wall Street’s main indexes fell as investors assessed mixed earnings from industry heavyweights and digested data that showed manufacturing activity slowed more than expected in July.
Keeping a lid on Dow’s losses, Caterpillar advanced 7.4 per cent as the global economic bellwether reported a rise in second-quarter profit, though it warned of a sequential fall in current-quarter sales and margins.
Uber shed 5.4 per cent after the ride-hailing company missed second-quarter revenue expectations.
Among pharmaceutical heavyweights, Pfizer edged lower in choppy trading after the drugmaker fell short of Wall Street expectations for quarterly revenue, hit by declining sales of its Covid-19 products.
Merck eased 0.8 per cent even as it raised its full-year profit forecast after posting a smaller-than-expected second-quarter loss.
Hurting shares of megacap growth firms such as Tesla and Amazon.com, whose valuations come under pressure when borrowing costs rise, yield on the benchmark 10-year treasury note climbed over 4 per cent.
At 11.40am eastern time (4.40pm Irish time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.04 per cent; the S&P 500 was down 0.33 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.37 per cent. – Additional reporting: Agencies
