Citigroup earnings drive global equity values

Global equity markets spluttered into life yesterday, lifted by Citigroup’s earnings in the US and more positive sentiment from investors towards euro zone banks. A fresh round of merger and acquisition activity in the pharmaceuticals sector also caught investors’ attention.

The Iseq climbed almost 1 per cent as national benchmark indexes rose in all 18 western European markets.

DUBLIN
Ryanair was the Iseq's standout performer yesterday, soaring by 2.4 per cent in a burst of afternoon trading to close the day at €6.80. The airline unveiled its latest initiative designed to overhaul customer experience. Mobile boarding passes will soon be followed by an expanded offering for business passengers.

Tullow Oil shrugged off negative news from its Ethiopian prospects to finish the day up 0.56 per cent at €9.91. Tullow announced it will plug and abandon its Gardim-1 exploration well in the African country, after it failed make a commercial strike.

Smurfit Kappa, the paper and packaging giant, was the most traded stock of the day on the Iseq in terms of value and volume, with €28 million of shares changing hands in almost 2,000 deals. It closed up almost 0.4 per cent at €15.47.

LONDON
Shire climbed 0.7 per cent to 4,903 pence. The Dublin-headquartered drugmaker told AbbVie it is willing to recommend the US company's revised takeover offer of £53.20 a share subject to the satisfactory resolution of other terms of the bid.

Sports Direct added 3.6 per cent to 723 pence. The company will partner with MySale's OzSale operation to open outlets and websites in Australia and New Zealand later this year, said MySale.

Rolls-Royce added 1.3 per cent to 1,050 pence. Airbus has selected the company's Trent 7000 engine for the upgraded version of its A330 planes.

Tesco increased 2.3 per cent to 284.5 pence. Cantor Fitzgerald raised its recommendation on Ireland's biggest supermarket operator to buy from sell, citing a reorganisation of its operations and growth in its online and convenience sales.

EUROPE
Banco Espirito Santo slid 7.5 per cent to 44.5 cent, after earlier rallying as much as 7.1 per cent. Portugal's second-biggest lender appointed a new chief executive after the Portuguese central bank urged it to make changes to its executive management earlier than planned.

Kuehne and Nagel rose 4.5 per cent to 121.80 Swiss francs. The world's biggest sea-freight forwarder said second-quarter earnings increased 4.6 per cent, beating average analyst estimates.

SEB climbed 1.2 per cent to 90.70 kronor. The Stockholm-based bank said second-quarter net income advanced to 4.17 billion kronor (€451 million). That beat the average 4 billion-kronor estimate of analysts.

US Citigroup jumped 3.3 per cent after reporting better than expected profits. The third-largest US bank reported adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share. Analysts had projected earnings at $1.05. The bank also announced a $7 billion settlement over its sale of flawed mortgage securities, less than the $12 billion sought by the US government.

Apple climbed 1.7 per cent to $96.83 after Barclays raised rating. Separately, Israeli media- services company Emblaze said a jury considering its legal claim against Apple ruled the US company did not infringe its patent.

GoPro dropped 4 per cent to $37.29. The company's signature first-person-viewpoint camera could be subsumed as smartphones evolve, according to an analysis by Barrons. Shares of GoPro have soared 55 per cent since they began trading on June 26th.

TripAdvisor fell 1.4 per cent to $103.33. Nomura cut its rating, saying the shares are at full valuation. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters)