European shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, though the gains were modest as a telecom sector rally and strength in consumer stocks offset weakness in software companies and a sell-off triggered by healthcare company Novo Nordisk’s disappointing outlook.
Dublin
The Iseq All-Share index ended the session with a 1.08 per cent gain to 13,519.02.
Kerry Group topped the index on Wednesday, rising 5.36 per cent to €77.60, while Kingspan Group registered a strong 3.88 per cent gain.
Homebuilders Cairn Homes and Glenveagh Properties gained on the day, adding 3.52 per cent and 2.72 per cent, respectively. Rental business Ires Reit added 2.64 per cent on the day.
READ MORE
The biggest Irish banks were among the few falling stocks on the day. AIB fell 0.15 per cent and Bank of Ireland dropped 0.37 per cent. Alongside the banks, the index’s gains were trimmed by Ryanair, which fell by 0.48 per cent but remains strong at €28.84.
London
The UK’s FTSE 100 closed at a record high on Wednesday, boosted by healthcare stocks led by drugmaker GSK after upbeat quarterly earnings, while investors awaited the Bank of England’s monetary policy decision later this week.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.85 per cent at 10402.34 points, while the domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.18 per cent.
Healthcare stocks were up 1.9 per cent, after drugmaker GSK hit a 26-year high, up 6.9 per cent, following its upbeat fourth-quarter results.
Its chief executive Luke Miels said the drugmaker’s next growth phase would focus on faster research and development, programmes that can redefine standard of care and bolt-on acquisitions to boost sales growth.
Beazley climbed 6.9 per cent as the British insurer agreed to the terms of a sweetened £8 billion (€9.25 billion) takeover proposal from Switzerland’s Zurich Insurance. The stock boosted the nonlife insurance index, up 4.7 per cent, outperforming its peers.
Business information group RELX slipped 1.3 per cent after having suffered double-digit losses on Tuesday.
IT firm Softcat slid 9.1 per cent to a two-year low, while HG Capital slumped another 6.2 per cent. Advertising firm WPP fell 3.6 per cent to its lowest since 1998.
Europe
The European benchmark was largely flat, gaining just 0.03 per cent.
Novo Nordisk was the big mover, tumbling 17.17 per cent after saying it expects sales and operating profit in 2026 to fall year-on-year, strained by price pressures in the United States as it battles a competitive weight-loss drug market.
“Even though demand for weight-loss drugs is expected to continue to soar, it’s just the fact that there are many more new entrants and there’s a demand for cheaper pricing. So whereas Novo was the top dog, there are so many others biting at its heels and bringing it down,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said.
Investors were also evaluating the potential repercussions of artificial intelligence (AI) developer Anthropic’s launch of plug-ins for its Claude Cowork that analysts said could disrupt the software business worldwide.
Tech and media stocks fell 2.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, adding to their steep declines on Tuesday.
Credit Agricole fell 3 per cent after the French bank reported a 39 per cent fall in fourth-quarter profit, hit by a one-off charge related to its increased stake in Italy’s Banco BPM.
New York
The S&P 500 struggled for direction, while the Dow had edged higher in midafternoon trading on Wednesday, as strong results from Eli Lilly and Super Micro Computer offered some support to the market grappling with a software and cloud sell-off.
The software and services index, home to several leading cloud and software companies, fell for a sixth straight session and was on track for its steepest stretch of losses since March 2020.
The losses reflect persistent concerns about how rapid advances in AI could upend long-standing software business models. CrowdStrike, Intuit and Adobe were each down.
Meanwhile, Nasdaq lagged behind as Advanced Micro Devices slid double digits after the company forecast a slight dip in first-quarter revenue. The S&P 500’s technology index also ticked lower.
Super Micro Computer’s shares jumped after the company raised its annual revenue forecast on sustained demand for its AI-optimised servers as companies ramp up data-centre capacity. – Additional reporting by Reuters, PA
