European shares closed at a record high after trading on Wednesday, aided by gains in chemicals and healthcare stocks despite anxiety among traders over simmering geopolitical tensions globally.
Dublin
The Iseq All-Share index ended the session up 0.17 per cent to 12,995.04 but is still down on the week so far.
Glanbia was the big winner on the day, topping the index by adding 1.89 per cent to reach €15.10, followed by healthcare services group Uniphar – up 1.56 per cent – which today acquired Limerick-based pharmacy technology provider TouchStore.
In a poor day for the home builders, Glenveagh and Cairn both fell. Glenveagh shed 1.66 per cent to €1.898 on the day, while sectoral rival Cairn lost less, down 0.48 per cent to a share price of €2.06.
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Ryanair, a significant component of the index, fell 0.67 per cent but remains above the sticky €28 mark at €28.35. The banks were mixed. AIB lost 0.16 per cent, while Bank of Ireland added 0.66 per cent to hit €16.90. Permanent TSB Group was flat.
London
Britain’s FTSE 100 ended at a record high on Wednesday, buoyed by gains in miners and healthcare names, while Pearson fell after a contract setback in New Jersey.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed up at 0.46 per cent. A broader index for miners jumped 2.3 per cent, with Rio Tinto up 2.3 per cent, Atalaya Mining adding 1.8 per cent, and Glencore up 3 per cent, boosted by copper prices which scaled a new high.
“A more interventionist Donald Trump who is pressuring the Fed, demanding corporations do as he wishes, and plans to take Greenland are all driving flows into the relative safety of gold,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
The pharmaceutical index was also a standout, up 2 per cent, helped by heavyweight AstraZeneca after the drug maker agreed to buy Boston-based Modella AI, as the industry increasingly uses artificial intelligence to speed up drug discovery.
Separately, Bank of England policymaker Alan Taylor said UK interest rates should keep falling as inflation is on track to hit the 2 per cent target by mid-2026, earlier than previously forecast.
Limiting overall gains, the media index slipped 2.5 per cent, dragged by a 9.5 per cent drop in Pearson, the benchmark’s worst performer.
Europe
The pan-European STOXX 600 finished up 0.18 per cent at 611.56 points, with chemicals leading sectoral gains with a 2 per cent jump.
EMS Chemie surged 8 per cent and was among top performers on the STOXX index after UBS upgraded the Swiss chemical group to “buy” from “hold”. Chemical companies were also among top gainers on the US benchmark S&P 500.
Finnish drugmaker Orion climbed 12 per cent to its highest since October, following a better-than-expected revenue forecast for 2026.
Germany’s DAX index witnessed declines after logging its longest daily winning streak in more than a decade on Tuesday. The DAX closed 0.5 per cent lower, weighed by technology stocks such as SAP and Infineon.
Meanwhile, traders were digesting the bankruptcy of high-end department store conglomerate Saks Global, to which Gucci-owner Kering and the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate LVMH were listed as unsecured creditors.
New York
Wall Street’s main indexes were down for the second straight day in midafternoon trading on Wednesday, with bank stocks retreating after mixed results, while selling also spread to market-leading tech and growth stocks.
Wells Fargo shares dropped after missing fourth-quarter profit expectations. Bank of America and Citigroup both topped quarterly profit estimates, but their shares fell.
The S&P 500 bank index slumped to hit a five-week low, deepening losses this week stemming from concerns over a proposed ceiling on credit-card interest rates that JPMorgan executives warned could squeeze consumers and dent profitability across the financial sector.
Shares of Broadcom, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet fell after a Reuters report said Chinese authorities have told domestic companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by roughly a dozen US and Israeli firms. – Additional reporting: Reuters/PA
