Shares surge on Nvidia news

Shares soared on Thursday following chipmaker Nvidia’s forecast late on Wednesday that quarterly sales would rise 288 per cent. Markets including Japan’s Nikkei tested new highs on the back of the news.

Dublin

Irish shares rose but traders said the Iseq index lagged European and US markets.

Bank of Ireland lured investors ahead of reporting financial results on Monday, climbing 4.24 per cent to €8.846, beating peer AIB, which added 1.65 per cent to €4.30.

House builder Cairn Homes added 1.22 per cent to €1.488 while rival Glenveagh slipped 1.33 per cent to €1.19.

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Insulation specialist Kingspan dipped 0.88 per cent to €85.50, giving back some of its recent gains.

London

Shares in FTSE 250-listed Indivior surged by 22.4 per cent to 1,660 pence sterling after the pharmaceutical group published its financial results for 2023, showing that revenues jumped by 21 per cent last year.

It also significantly narrowed its losses from $85 million in 2022 to $4 million in 2023. Indivior said it was considering moving its primary listing to New York from London, joining an exodus that includes Irish giants CRH and Flutter Entertainment.

Rolls-Royce jumped 8.3 per cent to 356.8p its highest in nearly six years as the engineering company said that profit could rise as much as 25 per cent this year, ahead of forecasts, after it smashed targets in 2023.

Europe

European tech stocks surged on chip maker Nvidia’s upbeat revenue forecast as investors waited on the latest central bank meeting minutes for interest rate clues.

BESI semi-conductor was up almost 6 per cent at €163.45 after the Dutch chipmaking equipment supplier exceeded fourth-quarter targets on demand for AI-related chipmaking parts.

European technology shares are up more than 12 per cent this year as investors rush to join the AI frenzy, spurred by strong earnings reports from the sector while the Stoxx 600 is heading for record highs.

Mercedes Benz climbed more than 5 per cent to €71.56 after the luxury car maker reported good results and pledged to buy back €3 billion worth of shares from investors.

Hotelier Accor was up 6.8 per cent at €40.55 after the owner of the Raffles, Novotel and Ibis chains reported stronger than expected results.

Swissh food maker and confectioner Nestle shed 4.65 per cent to close at 94.51 francs after reporting that inflation left sales growth trailing expectations.

US

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index briefly hit a fresh record on Thursday after Nvidia’s stellar results and forecast spurred the artificial intelligence-led rally this year.

Nvidia’s shares surged 12.9 per cent after the chip designer forecast a roughly three-fold surge in first-quarter revenue on strong demand for its AI chips.

The company, which also beat expectations for fourth-quarter revenue, could add more than $200 billion in market capitalisation, if gains hold.

At 09:42 New York time, the benchmark S&P 500 was up 1.31 per cent at 5,047.07, after hitting intraday record high of 5051.37 earlier in the session.

Shares of other companies, seen as beneficiaries of the AI boost, also got a shot in the arm. Nvidia’s rival Advanced Micro Devices, server component supplier Super Micro Computer and Arm Holdings jumped between 6.9 per cent and 16.8 per cent.

Big Tech and growth stocks such as Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta Platforms rose between 0.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent. — Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters