Europe’s Stoxx 600 closed at a record high on Wednesday, with healthcare stocks leading the way after a US-Pfizer deal reduced uncertainty in the sector, while investors digested the beginning of a US government shutdown.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 surged 1.2 per cent to log its biggest one-day percentage gain since July 23rd. Most regional bourses were also trading higher, with London’s FTSE 100 at a record high.
Dublin
Shares in nutrition group Glanbia dipped on Wednesday after its largest shareholder, Tirlán Co-operative Society, sold a 6.8 per cent stake in the business. Tirlán plans to use the €230 million proceeds from the share sale to help repurchase €250 million of bonds issued in 2022. Glanbia shares closed the session 2.2 per cent down at €13.70.
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AIB and Bank of Ireland enjoyed a strong session with both stocks up 2 per cent. Dublin-listed home builders Cairn and Glenveagh were also up 1.9 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively following good results in recent weeks.
Iseq heavyweight Ryanair fell marginally on the back of a general decline in leisure stocks.
Europe
European healthcare stocks jumped 5.4 per cent, marking their biggest one-day performance since November 2008. On Tuesday, Pfizer agreed to lower prescription drug prices in the US Medicaid programme in exchange for tariff relief.
“The sector generally has struggled over the last year or so and what we are hopefully beginning to see is some measure of clarity about what the rules of the game may look like,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.
Other pharma stocks such as Ambu rose 9.3 per cent, Sartorius 9.5 per cent, Merck 10 per cent and Roche 8.6 per cent.
Novartis gained 3.9 per cent after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its oral treatment for a type of chronic inflammatory skin disease.
All sectors were trading in the positive territory, but travel and leisure stocks bucked the trend with a 0.4 per cent dip.
London
London’s FTSE 100 reached a fresh intraday peak on Wednesday, propelled by gains in the healthcare sector, with pharma giant AstraZeneca up 11 per cent alone, while investors assessed the ramifications of the US government shutdown on the release of critical economic indicators.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 96.00 points, 1 per cent, at 9,446.43, beating its previous record close on Tuesday.
The blue chip index had earlier set a new best level of 9,457.91 while the midcap index FTSE 250 fell 0.2 per cent.
Tate & Lyle was the biggest drag on the index after the food ingredients maker warned that its annual profit and revenue would fall due to a demand slowdown in the Americas, its key market.
Its shares plummeted 9.7 per cent to levels not seen since 2009.
The aerospace and defence index was the biggest decliner among sectors, down 1.4 per cent, after gaining more than 2 per cent in the previous session.
Among other stocks, Greggs rose 7.4 per cent after the bakery and fast-food chain reported a 6.1 per cent rise in third-quarter total sales, saying business improved in August and September.
New York
The main US stock indexes declined on Wednesday as investors digested soft private payrolls data, while a federal government shutdown risked delaying economic data, heightening the uncertainty around the central bank’s next policy move.
Traders sharply increased bets on a 25-basis-point rate cut by the US. Federal Reserve at its next meeting after the ADP National Employment Report showed private payrolls dropped the most in two-and-a-half years in September.
The labour market is walking a tightrope because data needs to be soft enough to support rate cuts, yet robust enough to avoid stoking fears of a broader economic slowdown.
Communication services shares on the S&P 500 fell 1.5 per cent, dragged by losses in Meta Platforms and Alphabet , which shed 2.8 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. The stocks also weighed on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 tech sector lost 0.4 per cent, with Nvidia down 0.9 per cent. - Additional reporting by Reuters
