Markets show resilience in wake of Manchester terror attack

Markets were generally quite resilient on Tuesday, something which was described as “somewhat surprising” by an analyst, given Monday’s terror attack in the UK.

DUBLIN

In terms of the big movers on the Irish exchange, Greencore was the standout performer. It published better than expecting operating profit. Stock traded up about 7 per cent for the day. It was up as high as 10 per cent earlier in the day.

On property, Hibernia Reit published strong full year results. As a result, it also rallied, up 1.7 per cent for the day. It didn't bring its peers with it however, as Green Reit and Ires Reit finished the day essentially unchanged.

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Cairn Homes has been a little bit weak of late. After finishing down 1.5 per cent on Monday, it ended yesterday unchanged. An analyst with Davy said that might have had something to do with Leo Varadkar's proposal to abolish the help-to-buy scheme.

In the airline sector, Ryanair was up less than half a per cent, which was in line with IAG and Lufthansa. Easyjet was up 2.5 per cent, outperforming its peers after a broker upgrade from an investment bank.

Glanbia closed down 1 per cent, which was in line with peers. CRH was up half a per cent after the White House unveiled a $4.1 trillion budget. Aryzta was down 3 per cent for the day after an investment banks cut its price target.

LONDON

The FTSE 100 ended the day relatively flat and the pound struggled to make gains as higher-than-expected Government borrowing figures weighed on markets.

London’s blue chip index ended the day down 0.15 per cent or 11.05 points at 7,485.29, despite gains across Europe.

In UK stocks, Severn Trent was one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 100, up 43p to 2,491p. It comes after the utility giant reported a 4.3 per cent jump in underlying pre-tax profit to £525 million in the year to March, boosted by fewer leaks and floodings.

Royal Dutch Shell's 'B' shares edged higher by 4p to 2,156.5p after shareholders rejected a proposal that would force the company to adopt emissions targets and bring the company in line with Paris climate agreement goals.

Topps Tiles shares tumbled 6.75p to 96.25p as pre-tax profits in the six months to April 1st fell 5.9 per cent to £9.5 million, with the company citing a slowing housing market and challenging market conditions.

EUROPE

Nokia shares jumped more than 6 per cent to their highest in more than a year, joined by a rise in banking stocks which helped European stock markets edge higher.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.2 per cent, gaining pace after a sluggish opening as banking stocks headed higher. Germany’s DAX was up 0.3 per cent while euro zone blue chips gained 0.5 per cent.

European tech firms were standout performers, with the sector up 1.4 per cent after shares in Nokia jumped 6.4 per cent to their highest since February 2016 following the settlement of a patent dispute with Apple.

Upgrades also helped the top STOXX gainers, with Banco BPM rising 5.9 per cent after Barclays upgraded the Italian lender to "overweight" from "equal weight".

NEW YORK

In the United States, investors looked to US president Donald Trump’s first full budget plan, which calls for an increase in military and infrastructure spending but also a raft of politically sensitive cuts, including to healthcare and food assistance programmes for the poor.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.26 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 20,932.09, the S&P 500 gained 3.21 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 2,397.23 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.83 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 6,131.79.

Oil prices bounced around on Tuesday as US crude rose 0.1 per cent to $51.18 per barrel and Brent was last at $53.94, up 0.13 per cent on the day.

– Additional reporting: Agencies