US stocks lifted by better than expected jobs figures

Stocks gained ground on Friday on the back of news that US employers hired 227,000 people last month, well ahead of the predicted 180,000.

Dublin

Ryanair attracted plenty of interest ahead of releasing its third-quarter results on Monday. The airline published figures early on Friday showing that 8.77 million people flew with it in January, 17 per cent more than during the same month last year. It sold 90 per cent of the available seats on its aircraft.

It broke the €14.90-mark in mid-morning trading, but pared back those gains later on, closing 0.61 per cent up at €14.755. More than 2.5 million of its shares changed hands.

International packaging group, Smurfit Kappa, dipped 0.54 per cent to close at €24.985. Dealers noted that the stock has been performing strongly in recent days. Almost 700,000 of its shares traded in Dublin.

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On the domestic front, Bank of Ireland gained 1.61 per cent to close at 25.2 cent.

London

Irish convenience foods group Greencore, which is listed in London, continued its recovery, climbing 6.5 pence sterling or 2.65 per cent to close at 252 pence.

The banks also performed well, Barclays rose 7.5p or 3.4 per cent to 228.85p, Royal Bank of Scotland was up 2.72 per cent at 228.5p and Lloyds rose 1.5 per cent to 65.85p.

Other financial firms rose, including Prudential up 48p to 1,600.5p and Hargreaves Lansdown climbed 23p to 1,381p.

In oil markets, the prospect of fresh US sanctions on Iran pushed Brent crude prices higher by about 0.3 per cent to 56.90 US dollars per barrel.

In UK stocks, mining stocks fell as investors fretted about policy tightening in China. Glencore fell 15.5p to 309.5p, while Rio Tinto dropped 124.5p to 3,390.5p, and Anglo American sunk 45.5p to 1,332p.

Johnston Press shares soared 1.75p to 17.5p after the newspaper publisher said it expects 2016 earnings to be in line with forecasts despite a difficult trading period in the wake of Brexit.

It said full-year revenues fell 6 per cent. Maintenance group Homeserve saw shares drop 2p to 597.5p after spending £37 million on stakes in Checkatrade and Habitissimo, marking its entrance into the home improvement market.

Europe

Building on an earlier report that signalled a stronger euro-area economy, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6 per cent to 364.07 in a broad-based rally. Only the basic-resources sector lost ground, with mining stocks dropping along with metal prices following lower-than-expected China macroeconomic data.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index added 0.6 per cent, moving further away from a key support level representing its 50-day moving average.

The euro-area economy started the year on a solid footing, with rising orders bolstering job creation, according to IHS Markit.

A composite Purchasing Managers’ Index remained at 54.4 in January – the highest since 2011.

European mining stocks bucked the trend, with the Stoxx 600 Basic Resources index closing 2.7 per cent lower after Chinese economic data missed estimates and the nation’s monetary policy was tightened.

The sector index has been falling toward a key support level representing the 50 per cent retracement of the index’s slump from the peaks of 2011 to the lows of early 2016.

China’s central bank raised interest rates it charges in open-market operations and on funds lent via its Standing Lending Facility as it shifts to reining in asset prices and inflation.

US

Wall Street climbed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 nearing its record high, fuelled by robust nonfarm payrolls data and a rise in bank stocks on expectations of simpler regulations.

Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were up between 2 per cent and 3.6 per cent.

Amazon. com fell 3.3 per cent to $812.06 after the world's largest online retailer forecast a surprise dip in operating profit for the current quarter.

The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 consumer discretionary index. Macy’s jumped 7 per cent to $32.92 following a takeover approach from Canada’s Hudson’s Bay.

– (Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters)