Global markets fell on Tuesday amid concern the war in the Middle East is intensifying as US president Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire deal ticked closer.
Trump threatened that “a whole civilisation will die” as Iran showed no sign of accepting his ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening, Washington time.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin slightly outperformed international peers as it finished the day down just 0.5 per cent.
There was not much green on the board by close of business, but AIB was an outlier as it climbed 0.3 per cent. PTSB also rose 2.4 per cent but on small volume. The picture was not as rosy for Bank of Ireland which dropped 1.2 per cent.
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No frills airline Ryanair dipped 0.9 per cent, but it outperformed the airline sector with most of its peers in other markets down between 3 and 4 per cent as the fallout from Trump’s threats to Iran continued to spook investors.
Home builders were also in the red, with Glenveagh Properties and Cairn Homes each down 1.4 per cent. Cavan-based insulation specialist Kingspan was down 1.3 per cent at close of business.
London
UK shares ended lower amid broader-based losses as investors turned risk-averse heading into Trump’s deadline.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dropped 0.8 per cent, while the midcap FTSE 250 was 0.4 per cent weaker. The blue-chip index briefly hit a one-month-plus high earlier in the day, but Tuesday’s eventual fall snapped a four-day winning streak.
Aerospace and defence lagged, with the sector off 2.6 per cent, while shares of Rolls-Royce fell 3.9 per cent.
Travel and leisure shed 1.9 per cent with airline stocks particularly hit as crude oil prices climbed amid the volatile situation in Iran.
Heavyweight banks lost 0.8 per cent, while pharmaceutical and biotech shares fell 2.2 per cent.
Europe
European stocks retreated as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the latest deadline in the Iran war.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.96 per cent, while Europe’s broader FTSEurofirst 300 index slipped 1.04 per cent.
Elsewhere, the German Dax index fell by about 1 per cent, while the French Cac 40 managed to hold on to gains of around 0.7 per cent.
Euro zone bond yields rose. German two-year yields, which are more sensitive to rate expectations, were last up 3.1 basis points to 2.6546 per cent.
The yield on Italy’s 10-year government bond was last up 2.7 basis points to 3.8964 per cent, with the gap between the German and Italian 10-year bond yields last standing at around 87 basis points.
New York
Main indices on Wall Street fell as investors looked for clues on what might come next in the Middle East conflict before Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Tech stocks weighed heavily, with the S&P 500 information technology index down 1.4 per cent. On the flip side, energy stocks on the S&P 500 added 1 per cent.
Apple lost 4.2 per cent after a report said its foldable phone has been encountering setbacks in its engineering test phase, which could lead to production delays. The stock was the biggest drag on all three indices.
A 3.7 per cent gain in Broadcom after the chipmaker signed a long-term deal with Alphabet’s Google to develop its AI chips and other components helped limit declines.
UnitedHealth jumped 8.8 per cent and peers Humana and CVS Health added 6.5 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively, after the US said it would raise payments to private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans to older adults, an increase from the near-flat change proposed earlier.
Among other movers, Intel shares added 2.2 per cent after the chipmaker said it would join Elon Musk’s Terafab AI chip complex project along with SpaceX, Tesla and xAI. – Additional reporting: Agencies
