World stocks were mixed in choppy trading on Tuesday as investors were jittery in advance of major corporate earnings reports and central bank moves.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin outperformed most of its international peers as it finished the day up 0.8 per cent. All three of the Irish pillar banks made gains in advance of posting results this week, with AIB up 0.5 per cent, Bank of Ireland inching 0.1 per cent stronger and PTSB adding 2 per cent.
“They all performed reasonably well today,” a trader said. “Investors are waiting to see what they say over the next few days.”
The standout performer on the day, however, was healthcare services group Uniphar, which finished up 6.8 per cent after it reported organic gross profit growth of about 7 per cent in a trading update. A trader said there were a number of buyers interested in the stock.
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Among the bigger names on the index, insulation specialist Kingspan climbed 1.9 per cent, while food giant Kerry Group was up 0.7 per cent at close of business in advance of results Wednesday.
In the travel and tourism sector budget airline Ryanair finished flat, while Dalata – the biggest hotel operator in the State – was 1.9 per cent ahead when the final bell rang.
London
The FTSE 100 had a lacklustre session, down 0.22 per cent, amid a mixed day for trading around the world.
Global bank Standard Chartered was the biggest riser with shares jumping more than 6 per cent, helping offset losses for miners. At the other end of the scale shares in Diageo fell by 5 per cent after the spirits giant said its sales and profits dipped after a “challenging year”.
In other company news shares in Greggs jumped after the high street bakery chain reported strong profit growth for the first half of the year. Total sales rose 14 per cent to £960 million (€1.1bn) over the period. The shares closed 5 per cent higher.
Elsewhere, BP posted a higher-than-expected profit of more than £4.2 billion for the first half, but said it was still lower than the same period a year ago. It also told shareholders it was increasing its dividend by 10 per cent and extending its share repurchasing programme to the fourth quarter. Shares in BP were down 0.3 per cent at close.
Europe
European equities rose as a report showed the euro zone’s economy grew more than expected last quarter as investors peer ahead to central bank interest rate decisions this week in the US and UK.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5 per cent by the close. Construction, industrial goods and insurance stocks gained the most, while miners underperformed as iron ore and copper prices fell.
In Paris, the Cac 40 index rose 0.42 per cent, while in Frankfurt the Dax climbed 0.56 per cent.
New York
The Nasdaq dropped 1 per cent as chip and megacap shares took a hit in advance of big tech earnings, while strength in financial stocks kept the Dow afloat in anticipation of a key US Federal Reserve policy decision this week.
Megacap stocks such as Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Tesla also fell between 0.1 per cent and 2 per cent as investors refrained from big bets in advance of tech earnings scheduled through the week.
AI favourite Nvidia slumped 5 per cent, leading a sharp erosion in chip stocks and pushing the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index down 2.4 per cent.
Procter & Gamble slumped 6 per cent after missing expectations for fourth-quarter sales.
Merck lost 10 per cent after the drugmaker cut its annual profit forecast, while CrowdStrike shed 9 per cent after a report that Delta Air Lines is seeking compensation from Microsoft and the cybersecurity firm for the global cyber outage earlier this month.
Cybersecurity and cloud services company F5 jumped 11.2 per cent after forecasting fourth-quarter results above estimates. – Additional reporting: Agencies
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