News of a raft of major mergers helped to keep European shares in the green despite the turmoil from political uncertainty following Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s ousting in a no-confidence vote. The Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar led to a spike in oil prices.
DUBLIN
The Iseq All-Share index edged highery, up 0.15 per cent to 11,419.85.
A good day for the banks kept the index positive, AIB gained 1.65 per cent to close at €7.41 alongside Bank of Ireland which added 0.76 per cent to reach €13.21. The banks have seen gains since the announcement of a planned in-app transfer system, Zippay.
Ryanair added 0.71 per cent on Tuesday as airlines generally gained. The Irish airline said it would pursue a judicial review against a ruling restricting night flights at Dublin Airport. The stock hit €24.12.
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Among the losers was Kingspan, which fell 3.16 per cent to €68.95, amid stock volatility. Property companies had a mixed day, Cairn Homes fell 1.14 per cent while Ires Reit added 0.31 per cent.
LONDON
The blue-chip FTSE 100 edged up, while the domestically focused mid-cap index was flat.
Shares of Anglo American jumped 9.07 per cent after the miner said it has agreed to merge with Canada’s Teck Resources in a $50 billion (€42.7 billion) deal to form a newly combined company Anglo Teck plc.
Commodity trading and mining company, Glencore plc added 5.29 per cent. Precious metal miners rose for a third day, tracking higher gold. Endeavour Mining added 1.37 per cent.
On the flip side, Aerospace and defence companies led sectoral declines with Rolls-Royce down 0.5 per cent, while BAE Systems fell 0.17 per cent.
Among other moves, homeware retailer Dunelm fell 9.9 per cent, to the bottom of the mid-cap index, after it cautioned that it has yet to see signs of sustained recovery in consumer demand.
British luxury fashion house Burberry fell after gains on Monday. Its stock dropped 8.25 per cent.
Insurer Phoenix Group was up 1.78 per cent following a heavy decline in the previous session when it said it would rebrand as Standard Life in March 2026, and reported a larger-than-expected drop in book value due to market moves.
EUROPE
The Stoxx 600 index edged up 0.35 per cent to 552.39.
In Italy, Monte dei Paschi di Siena gained 6.26 per cent after data showed that the lender secured 62 per cent of bid target Mediobanca. Investment bank Mediobanca’s shares climbed 5.9 per cent.
Swiss pharma giant Novartis slipped after saying it will acquire Tourmaline Bio in a deal valuing the New York-based biopharmaceutical company at $1.4 billion on a fully diluted basis. It closed down 0.25 per cent,
Saab slid 2.36 per cent after Barclays initiated coverage on the defence equipment maker with an ‘underweight’ rating, less than a week after Morgan Stanley started coverage with a similar rating.
Later this week, investors will shift their attention to an interest rate verdict by the European Central Bank and the inflation data from the United States.
NEW YORK
Wall Street’s main indexes were largely subdued in midafternoon trading on Tuesday after closing near record highs in the previous session, while a downwards payrolls revision kept intact bets of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital city Doha boosted already rising oil prices, that lifted the energy sector.
UnitedHealth gained after the health insurer said it expects enrolment in top-rated Medicare insurance plans to be in line with its expectations.
In other stocks, Nebius soared about after the AI infrastructure firm signed a $17.4-billion deal with Microsoft. Rival CoreWeave also rose.
Class B shares of Fox Corp and News Corp dipped in trading. Rupert Murdoch and his children reached an agreement that will give the eldest son Lachlan Murdoch control over the media empire. – Additional reporting, Reuters, PA.
