Holiday shutdowns limit Iseq volumes

European shares fell yesterday, with the Spanish and Greek stock markets hit by concerns about Greece’s debt problems and a poor local election result for the government in Madrid.

However, trading volumes were thin, with the London, Frankfurt and New York markets shut for public holidays.

DUBLIN The Iseq index of Irish shares closed down 0.47 per cent, or 29 points, at 6,244.37 yesterday. However, one Dublin stockbroker said that while the market was open, it was open only in name, with "no rhyme or reason" for any stock changes.

CRH, Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Kerry Group all declined, pushing the market lower.

Kerry Group fell almost 1 per cent to €67.16, while index heavyweight CRH was down 0.44 per cent at €25.62. Ryanair, which reports full-year results today, fell marginally (0.16 per cent) to €10.88 at the close. The airline is guiding profits of €840 to €850 million.

Aer Lingus was also down slightly, ending the day 0.29 per cent lower at €2.37. The European Commission has not raised any initial major objections to pledges made by IAG as part of its bid to take over the Irish airline, according to reports yesterday.

FBD climbed 1.07 per cent to finish the day at €9.40, while Smurfit Kappa closed up 2.59 per cent at €29.08.

EUROPE Equity markets in Spain and Greece fell, dragging European stocks lower as holidays across the region curbed trading volume. The pullback in European stocks mirrored losses on Wall Street on Friday after US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen hinted at a possible rate hike this year.

Greece's Piraeus Bank dropped 6.1 per cent. In Italy, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles slid 3.1 per cent. Shares in Italian bank Monte Paschi surged 11.3 per cent after the lender launched its second rights issue in less than a year to repair its balance sheet.

Greece’s ATG equity index fell 3.1 per cent as the Greek government said yesterday that it intended to make good on its debt obligations but urgently needed aid to be able to do so. The ATG is down by around 1.5 per cent since the start of 2015, underperforming against other European stock markets.

Spain's Ibex equity index fell 2 per cent after the ruling People's Party took a battering in regional and local elections on Sunday. Voters punished prime minister Mariano Rajoy for four years of spending cuts and a string of corruption scandals.

France’s CAC-40 stock index dropped 0.5 per cent, while the FTSE MIB Index of Italy, where anti-austerity sentiment is on the rise, slid 2.1 per cent.

The broad Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3 per cent to 406.53 at 4:32pm in London, with the volume of shares changing hands 80 per cent lower than the 30-day average.

EMERGING MARKETS Stocks fell and currencies declined for a sixth day as concern grew that the US will raise interest rates.

Chinese shares jumped to a seven-year high, while the Brazilian real and Malaysia’s ringgit led currencies lower.

China’s CSI 300 Index, representing the largest stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, jumped 3 per cent amid speculation that the government will accelerate measures to bolster the economy and cross-border sales of mutual funds will fuel equity inflows.

Brazil’s stock futures slumped on worries that the $22.6 billion budget freeze announced on Friday won’t mean the government meets its fiscal goals. Brazil’s benchmark stock gauge concluded its worst week of the year on Friday as banks slumped after the government raised a tax on industry profits.

OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas producer, slid 1.3 per cent and Malaysia's electric utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad sank 3.4 per cent.

India's Tata Power lost 1.5 per cent after the BSE said it will remove the company from the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex from June 22nd.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 0.6 per cent. – (Additional reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters)