European shares were muted on Wednesday, as investors assessed talks involving Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, while sticky US inflation data marginally increased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike next month.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran and Muscat were still working on the details of an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz – the waterway that handled one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the United States-Iran conflict began.
The reopening of the waterway, however, still hangs on the US meeting Iran’s conditions, the report said.
Brent oil for October delivery traded at $88.09 (€75.60) a barrel on Wednesday, down from $89.31 dollars late on Tuesday.
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Reflecting the weaker oil price, BP and Shell’s share prices were down 1.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.
Dublin
The Iseq Overall index rose 0.1 per cent on Wednesday to close at 14,374.67.
Homebuilder Cairn Homes was the biggest riser in the day, up 1.4 per cent to €2.58, followed by Ryanair, which recorded a 1.2 per cent rise to €23.94.
The value of shares in agri-services group Origin Enterprises fell by 2.9 per cent to €4.35 on Wednesday. Shares in mining firm Mincon slipped 2.7 per cent to €0.71.
Irish Continental Group fell by almost 2.5 per cent on Wednesday, with shares down to €7.18.
During the day, Glenveagh shares were stagnant at €2.45, but a new filing linked to Glenveagh Properties has disclosed for the first time that American Century Investment Management Inc has taken a stake in the homebuilder.
The Kansas-based firm has disclosed it has crossed the 3 per cent threshold, at which it must declare its stake in the firm, and now has a 3.02 per stake in the developer led by Stephen Garvey.
London
London’s FTSE 100 edged lower on Wednesday as healthcare and energy stocks weighed on sentiment, while investors also assessed US inflation data and waited for Nvidia’s quarterly earnings.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index declined 0.07 per cent to 10,878.12, retreating after six straight sessions of gains, while the midcap FTSE 250 rose 0.17 per cent.
Sage led the FTSE 100 fallers, down 3.8 per cent, after Intuit, which owns accountancy software QuickBooks, lowered sales guidance for this year.
Intuit guided to revenue of $23.28 billion to $23.51 billion on-year growth of 9 per cent to 10 per cent, below FactSet consensus of $23.72 billion, and slower than 14 per cent growth in the financial year just ended.
Hochschild Mining led the gainers on the FTSE 250, up 6.3 per cent, as it reported a strong financial first-half performance supported by higher metals prices.
London-based Hochschild is a gold and silver miner in Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Pretax profit surged to $365.8 million in the six months ended June 30th from $109.3 million the year prior, as revenue climbed 62 per cent to $844.4 million dollars from $520.0 million.
Hochschild said that while gold production was “broadly similar” to a year ago, the average realised gold and silver prices jumped 47 per cent and 130 per cent respectively, boosting revenue.
Europe
European shares were muted, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 closing 0.01 per cent lower at 656.41 points.
The European economy has remained resilient and fared better during the energy shock than expected, keeping investors optimistic.
Among sectors on the Stoxx 600, European banks led gains with a 1 per cent rise, as Deutsche Bank advanced 4.3 per cent to reach its highest since July 2011, while Commerzbank gained 2.8 per cent.
German finance minister Lars Klingbeil plans to meet UniCredit chief executive Andrea Orcel, Reuters reported on Wednesday, which would mark Berlin’s first direct engagement over the lender’s pursuit of Commerzbank.
New York
On Wall Street, stocks made a subdued start to trading after a stronger-than-forecast inflation reading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 per cent, as was the Nasdaq Composite, while the S&P 500 index was flat.
Nvidia stood 1.1 per cent lower in advance of Wednesday’s earnings, released after the Wall Street close.
Bank of America said the Santa Clara-based chip maker should deliver the “usual” 3 per cent to 4 per cent sales beat and raise, but added balance sheet disclosures were what mattered.
Meta Platforms was also in the news, with shares up 2.3 per cent, as it said it has agreed to pay US states as much as $18 billion and to impose sweeping new limits on how teenagers use its social media platforms. – Additional reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg
