STOCKS FELL as confidence among US consumers cooled in April from a one-year high and China’s growth slowed to the least in almost three years.
Credit-default swaps on Spain surged as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy struggles to prevent the nation from becoming the fourth euro-region member to need a bailout.
National benchmark indexes fell in all 18 western European markets, except Iceland and Greece. The UK’s FTSE 100 slid 1.3 per cent, Germany’s DAX dropped 2.8 per cent and France’s CAC 40 declined 3.9 per cent, the most this year.
DUBLIN
The Iseq Index finished down, sliding almost 0.5 per cent on a quiet day. The market picked up in the afternoon with reasonable volumes traded on banking stocks in particular. Bank of Ireland closed down just under 1 per cent at €0.10, after some two million shares were traded in Dublin. IFG closed up 2.07 per cent to end the day at €1.48.
There were good volumes traded on CRH also, although its shares closed at €14.97, down 2.09 per cent on the previous day.
Food group Aryzta proved one of the biggest movers of the day, up 3.94 per cent, possibly on the back of positive analyst sentiment to close at €36.90.
Kerry Group also showed gains, although more modest, closing up 0.69 per cent at €33.68.
Aer Lingus traded well despite the market drop. Its stock continued to show resilience, closing up 0.51 per cent at €0.99
It was a quiet day for Ryanair, however, with just half a million shares traded, leaving the airline down 2.1 per cent at €4.34.
INM closed up 6.48 per cent at €0.23 on low volumes.
LONDON
UK stocks declined, with the FTSE 100 Index posting its fourth straight weekly loss after China’s growth slowed more than forecast last quarter.
The FTSE 100 fell 58.67, or just over 1 per cent, to 5,651.79, at the close in London – extending this week’s drop to 1.3 per cent.
Copper declined on the London Metal Exchange as China’s GDP release raised concern about demand for the metal.
BSkyB slipped 2.3 per cent to 647p after the Financial Times reported that British lawyer Mark Davies said he will file three civil lawsuits against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp in US courts on behalf of alleged victims of phone hacking.
The FBI and the US department of justice is investigating the company, which owns 39 per cent of BSkyB.
Sage fell 2.6 per cent to 287.7p after Jefferies recommended clients against expanding their holdings of the UK’s largest software maker.
Logica, an Anglo-Dutch computer services provider, slipped back 3.3 per cent to finish out the session at 80.85p.
EUROPE
European stocks dropped for a fourth week, the longest streak of losses since August, as concern resurfaced about the region’s debt crisis and economic reports in China and the US missed estimates.
The Stoxx 600 lost 2.2 per cent to 253.4 as China’s economy slowed more than forecast and a US report showed employers added fewer jobs in March than estimated.
Germany’s DAX slipped back 2.8 per cent and France’s CAC 40 declined 3.9 per cent, the most this year.
Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX 35 posted the biggest declines, losing 5.6 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively.
Société Générale SA and UniCredit SpA sank more than 8 per cent as banks led the Stoxx Europe 600 Index losses this week.
Banco Espirito Santo SA tumbled 13 per cent following an announcement of a share sale.
Nokia Oyj slumped 21 per cent after reporting an operating loss for its mobile-phone division and forecasting that earnings are unlikely to recover this quarter. US
Stocks fell, which sent the Standard Poor’s 500 Index toward the worst weekly decline in 2012.
Concern about the global financial system helped drive bank shares lower, even after JPMorgan and Wells Fargo and Co reported earnings that exceeded estimates.
JPMorgan lost 2.7 per cent to $43.65, while Wells Fargo dropped 2 per cent to $33.33.
Bank of America slid 3.7 per cent to $8.83. Alcoa retreated 2.4 per cent to $9.93.
Hewlett-Packard lost 2.9 per cent to finish at $24.38. Google fell 3.6 per cent to $627.37, despite earnings beat analyst estimates. The company’s latest attempt to preserve control for founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin triggered concern among corporate-governance watchdogs.
Google unveiled a plan that would enable the company to issue additional stock without diluting the founders’ voting power. The proposal would create a class of non-voting shares that could be distributed to existing shareholders in what is effectively a two for one stock split.
