Shares rose on Friday on the latest speculation that a that the United States and Iran were working on a new peace deal that could reopen the vital oil and gas Strait of Hormuz shipping lane. The Irish market outperformed Europe as leading shares rose.
Dublin
Ryanair Holdings climbed 2.29 per cent to €23.24 aided by a dip in oil prices stemming from the latest indications that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen after seven months.
The airline’s good performance lifted the overall index, which gained 1.25 per cent on Friday, putting it ahead of the European average.
Dealers noted that the banks enjoyed a strong day. Bank of Ireland added 1.62 per cent to close at €20.11 while AIB added 1.56 per cent to end the day at €11.70.
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Kingspan edged 0.83 per cent up to €97.05. Housebuilder Glenveagh dipped 0.4 per cent to €2.36 while its rival Cairn Homes was unchanged on the day.
London
Stocks in London made modest progress on Friday.
Tech retailer Computacenter rallied 3.2 per cent to 5,410 pence sterling after Thursday’s falls when the stock traded ex dividend. Miner Glencore firmed 2.2 per cent to 561.1p after analysts at UBS upgraded it to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.
In the red, oil giant BP slid 2.3 per cent to 558.5p as crude prices fell. Shell edged 0.8 per cent down to 3,611p and Ithaca Energy tumbled 3.6 per cent to 285.4p.
However the oil price move aided Aer Lingus owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), which gained almost 2 per cent to close at 436.2p on Friday.
Harworth Group rose 5.1 per cent after Peel Holdings raised its takeover offer to a “best and final” 187 pence per share in cash, valuing the property regeneration company at about £631.7 million (€734.2 million).
The new offer is 8.4 per cent above Peel’s previous 177.5p bid and represents a 30 per cent premium to Harworth’s closing share price on August 5th, before the offer period began.
Europe
European shares enjoyed their first weekly gain in four on Friday as hopes of reopening of the Strait of Hormuz rose. The vital shipping lane has been closed since the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict in late February.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 per cent by the close of business.
Swiss bank UBS rose 3.5 per cent to 40.8 Swiss francs on reports that the lender is mulling a combination with a foreign bank.
HelloFresh SE sank as much as 15 per cent – its lowest on record – after the meal kit delivery specialist soured investors’ appetites with by cutting revenue predictions for the year. Its shares closed almost 10 per cent down at €2.28.
German chemicals giant Evonik Industries soared 9 per cent after the Financial Times reported that BASF had made a merger proposal to the company and its biggest shareholder. BASF shares slipped about 3.6 per cent.
New York
The final stretch of a jittery week on Wall Street saw a rebound in stocks as oil prices fell. Tech shares led gains in the S&P 500, with chipmakers set for their longest weekly rally since May.
Microsoft shares rose 3.3 per cent and were the biggest boost to the S&P 500, after the software giant unveiled several new capabilities in its Copilot app, including a coding tool and an always-on AI agent.
Chip maker Qualcomm gained 5.1 per cent and Nvidia was marginally higher, while Dell advanced 5 per cent.
At about 4:30pm Irish time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 176.76 points to 51,526.74, the S&P 500 gained 14.02 points to 7,718.15 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 57.69 points to 26,997.07.
Declines in seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were offset by a 0.8 per cent overall gain in heavyweight tech stocks, the week’s best performer. Both the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were set for weekly advances. – Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Press Association
