Dublin lags rally in European markets

The Milan stock exchange outperformed a broad rally on European equity markets yesterday after data showed that Italian consumer confidence had risen for the first time in four months.

Encouraging comments by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi also supported the markets, enabling them to overcome the drag of weak German economic data and tepid results from Dutch group TNT.

The Dublin market lagged its major European peers, with the Iseq index of Irish shares closing up 0.4 per cent, at 4,810.6.

DUBLIN

Smurfit, Kerry, Bank of Ireland and CRH were among the biggest selling shares on the Irish market yesterday. There was little by way of market news.

Ryanair announced a deal with computer reservation business Amadeus that will allow its flights to become available through travel agents across Europe. The airline’s shares closed at €7.29, a rise of 1.97 per cent. Aer Lingus remained unchanged on the day, at €1.44.

Smurfit fell 2.33 per cent, to close at €16.76, while Kerry Group ended the day 0.36 per cent lower, at €54.80. Bank of Ireland closed at €0.30, a fall of 0.66 per cent, while CRH closed at €18.05, a fall of just 0.06 per cent.

LONDON

Britain‘s top share index ended higher, with gains from BHP Billiton on its plan to list a spin-off company also in London, and the supportive comments from Mr Draghi underpinning the market.

BHP Billiton rose in late trading and ended 3.2 per cent higher, the top gainer on the FTSE 100 index, after saying it would list the demerged company having aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets worth an estimated $16 billion in London, Sidney and Johannesburg.

The FTSE 100 finished 0.5 per cent higher at 6,706.27 points after staying almost flat during most of the session. It gained in the last hour of trading, tracking higher US stocks.

The FTSE had fallen 2 per cent at the start of the week on profit warnings from Tate & Lyle and Tesco and more weak economic data from the euro zone, Britain‘s biggest trading partner.

EUROPE

European stocks rose, following the biggest drop in 11 weeks, as investors assessed the health of the euro-area economy and the prospects for European Central Bank stimulus after German business confidence fell for a fifth month.

Germany‘s DAX advanced 0.7 per cent, and France‘s CAC 40 jumped 1.3 per cent. German business confidence declined in September to its lowest level in 17 months. The Ifo institute’s business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, fell to 104.7 from 106.3 in August. Economists had predicted a drop to 105.8.

Merck climbed 1.7 per cent to €74.10. Commerzbank AG raised its rating on the pharmaceutical company to buy from hold, with analyst Daniel Wendorff saying Merck‘s acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich Corp will boost earnings.

TNT Express slumped 9.6 per cent to €5.08.

NEW YORK

US stocks were higher, with the S&P 500 snapping a three-day decline, as investors sought stocks offering value following a strong report on the housing market.

Equities were boosted by data that showed new home sales jumped sharply in August, easing concerns over the sector that had arisen with Monday‘s weak report on existing home sales. “We‘re having a nice bounce on the housing data, which hasn‘t been very good in a while, and people are buying the recent dip,“ said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average was rising 85.4 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 17,141.27, the S&P 500 was gaining 7.6 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 1,990.37 and the Nasdaq Composite was adding 26.63 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 4,535.32.

– (Additional reporting, Bloomberg, Reuter)