European stocks still on winning streak

European stocks were little changed, posting their longest winning streak since January, amid mixed earnings reports from Ericsson and Volvo.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1 per cent to 405.68 at the close of trading, taking its weekly advance to 4.3 per cent, the most since January.

The gauge has rebounded 8.8 per cent from a July 7th low amid optimism over Greece, after almost entering a correction.

In Ireland, the Iseq Overall Index closed down by 0.2 per cent at 6,480.87.

DUBLIN

Permanent TSB

was the star performer on the Dublin market yesterday, closing up 4.8 per cent at €5.31 with 2.5 million shares changing hands. The shares are now trading at an 18 per cent premium to the pricing of its share placing in April.

Glanbia was up 2.8 per cent at €19.17. On Wednesday, Standard Life announced that its holding in Glanbia had risen above 3 per cent.

Among the fallers, Bank of Ireland finished lower by 0.3 per cent at 37 cent while Ryanair closed down 0.6 per cent at €12.53.

LONDON

UK stocks fell from their highest level in almost a month, led by declines in mining and oil shares, after Bank of England Governor

Mark Carney

said the end of record-low interest rates was in sight.

Anglo American and Royal Dutch Shell fell 1.5 per cent each as gauges of European miners and oil companies posted declines.

Marks and Spencer lost 1.2 per cent after clothing head John Dixon unexpectedly resigned from the UK retailer.

888 Holdings surged 8.6 per cent after agreeing to buy online gaming company Bwin.party Digital Entertainment for about $1.4 billion.

The FTSE 100 Index lost 0.3 per cent to 6,775.08 at the close in London. The FTSE All-Share Index fell 0.3 per cent.

EUROPE

Ericsson

advanced 3.4 per cent after second-quarter sales beat analysts’ projections.

Volvo

slid 6.3 per cent, reversing earlier gains after saying the US heavy-vehicle market has probably peaked as orders declined.

Among other stocks moving on corporate news, Givaudan rose 4 per cent after the world's largest maker of flavours and fragrance reported a surprise increase in first-half earnings.

Boliden and Schibsted jumped more than 7.3 per cent after they each reported second-quarter profit that beat estimates.

Credit Suisse Group fell 1.6 per cent after Deutsche Bank said it no longer recommended buying the shares. Fortum lost 6.9 per cent after posting a drop in quarterly profit.

NEW YORK

The Nasdaq Composite pushed further into record territory in early trading on strong results from

Google

, while the Dow and the S&P 500 fell, dragged down by

Boeing

and energy stocks.

Google surged more than 16.8 per cent to a record high of $703, a day after reporting strong ad revenue growth.

Facebook rose nearly 5 per cent to a record high of $95.39 on hopes that it could mirror Google's ad growth. Etsy spiked nearly 40 per cent thanks to a nod from Google during its conference call.

Crude oil prices slipped in choppy trading due to a strong dollar and fears of increased exports, pushing the S&P 500 energy index down 1.5 per cent to its lowest level since January 2013.

Exxon, down 0.3 per cent, and Chevron, down 1.2 per cent, were the biggest drag on the sector.

At lunchtime, the Nasdaq Composite was up 26.79 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 5,189.97. The index touched a record intraday high of 5,198.73.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 62.33 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 18,057.92 and the S&P 500 was down 1.84 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 2,122.45. – (Additional reporting by Bloomberg and Reuters)