European equities slip amid thin trading

Equities slipped across Europe amid thin post-Christmas trading, putting on the brakes on markets' recent rally, with investors indulging in profit-taking before the end of 2019.

Analysts cautioned against reading too much into strong directional moves for stocks at this time of year.

DUBLIN

Irish-listed shares fell on the penultimate trading day of the year, with the Iseq index closing down 1 per cent. Building materials group CRH was a drag on the Dublin market, with the cement giant finishing almost 1.7 per cent lower at €35.65.

There was little cheer for food stocks, with Glanbia dropping 3 per cent to €10.22, and Kerry down 0.9 per cent at €112.00.

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Ryanair also declined, edging down 0.5 per cent to €14.53, while paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa closed 1.4 per cent lower at €34.24.

Property shares fared better, with Irish Residential Properties Reit up 1.25 per cent at €1.62, and Glenveagh Properties up 1.3 per cent at 87 cent.

However, AIB was 3.2 per cent lower at just below €3.10, while Bank of Ireland finished at €4.89, down 0.8 per cent.

LONDON

The FTSE 100 shed almost 0.8 per cent, breaking a run that saw it record 11 consecutive days of advances. The FTSE 250 gave up 0.6 per cent as dealers cleared the decks in another holiday-shortened week and braced for 2020.

Healthcare stocks AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were among the biggest drags on the blue-chip bourse.

Oil majors Shell and BP also weighed despite crude prices touching a three-month high.

UAE-based NMC Health outperformed the FTSE 100 with a near 5 per cent rise. The stock has lost over a quarter of its value this month after a US short-seller criticised its financials.

EUROPE

In France the CAC 40 slumped 0.9 per cent, while the German Dax fell 0.7 per cent. Spanish stocks were also weak, declining 0.9 per cent.

Shares in Paris-listed eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban sunglasses, fell 3 per cent after it announced that its subsidiary Essilor International had discovered fraudulent money transfers in a Thailand plant. The company added that the negative impact of the fraud would be recorded in its 2019 operating results.

Norway-based Elkem, a supplier of silicone and silicon materials, rose 1 per cent in Oslo after agreeing to acquire Polysil, a Chinese maker of polymers and resins.

Italian state-owned lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena finished up 0.7 per cent after it completed three disposals of impaired loans for around €1.8 billion, surpassing a goal set in its restructuring plan two years ahead of time.

US

Wall Street slipped on Monday in early trading as investors booked profits following a period of optimism over improving US-China trade relations. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the pact was likely to be signed in the next week, while a South China Morning Post report earlier said Chinese vice-premier Liu He would travel to Washington later this week to sign the deal.

The benchmark S&P 500 closed at all-time highs in nine of the past 11 sessions, also powered by improving global sentiment and a loose monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.

Yet with no other major updates on trade expected before the new year and thin trading volumes in a holiday-shortened week, some analysts expect the record run to lose steam further.

Tech stocks largely led the drop in the S&P 500, with Microsoft down 0.7 per cent in early trading and Google parent Alphabet 1.2 per cent in the red, though Apple showed signs of recovery after a sluggish start.

Conversely, Exxon Mobil and Chevron led gains on the benchmark index, tracking higher oil prices.

Nio soared 43.6 per cent after the company, a rival to Tesla, beat quarterly revenue estimates on higher demand for its electric vehicles. – Additional reporting: Reuters.