Global stocks rose on Friday as investors assessed renewed Middle East tensions after US president Donald Trump said the interim deal with Iran was over.
While the renewed back-and-forth attacks have further eroded the fragile three-week-old US-Iran ceasefire, markets have mostly taken developments in the Middle East in their stride, although oil prices and their inflationary impact are back on investors’ radar.
Dublin
The Irish market eked out a gain on Friday, closing 0.5 per cent up and narrowing its weekly loss to just under 1 per cent.
Banking shares were positive on the day. AIB added 0.3 per cent by the end of the day, bringing the stock to a 1 per cent gain for the week.
READ MORE
Bank of Ireland saw its shares rise 0.2 per cent on Friday, ending the week almost 2 per cent higher.
Elsewhere in the market, Glanbia shed 0.5 per cent, while Kerry Group added 0.7 per cent. Both stocks ended the week in the red, down 2.8 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.
How can tech offer solutions for obesity and weight management?
In construction, insulation specialist Kingspan was 1 per cent higher by the close of the session, while home builders Glenveagh and Cairn both ended off the pace, at 4.3 pr cent and 3.5 per cent lower.
Ryanair gained almost 1 per cent on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to drag the stock to a weekly gain. It closed at €26.84, losing 2.66 per cent over the week.
London
London’s FTSE 100 closed higher on Friday as communications stocks took the lead.
Vodafone jumped 12.6 per cent to the top of the FTSE 100 after the UAE telecoms group e & said it would sell its stake in the British telecom company to the family investment vehicle of French billionaire Xavier Niel in a deal valued at nearly $6 billion.
EasyJet soared 14.3 per cent to the top of the FTSE 250 after the budget carrier agreed in principle to a £5.7 billion takeover approach from Apollo Global, helping travel and leisure stocks lead sectoral gains, up 1.6 per cent.
Healthcare was a drag, with heavyweight AstraZeneca down 3.9 per cent after dropping over 6 per cent in the previous session.
Shares of Hays rose 19.6 per cent after the recruiter said it expects annual operating profit at the top end of market expectations, helped by cost cuts and improved consultant productivity.
Europe
The Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed on Friday, but notched up a weekly loss of 1.7 per cent.
While Vodafone and EasyJet soared, semiconductor giant ASML Holding fell 2 per cent, weighing on the tech sector in Europe and sending jitters through investors.
Technology stocks weakened this week on concerns that their high valuations may be hard to sustain after a sharp rally.
Defence stocks were hit by profit-taking, with the sector declining more than 1.5 per cent over the day. That snapped its winning streak in recent weeks.
New York
Wall Street opened in mixed territory, as AI-related enthusiasm over the market debut of South Korean chip bellwether SK Hynix led investors to brush off tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.16 per cent in early trading, to 52,572.69, while the S&P 500 was mostly flat, climbing just 0.06 per cent to 7,548.32. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.25 per cent, to 26,141.32.
Brent crude futures were set for a 5 per cent week-on-week rise, the strongest weekly performance since early May. US crude fell 0.39 per cent to $71.80 a barrel.
Attention was on SK Hynix’s US market debut on Friday. The blockbuster offering is set to be the world’s second-biggest share sale after SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO last month. – Additional reporting: Reuters
