European shares were marginally higher on Monday as gains in energy firms and telecom stocks were countered by worsening fears of recession in the euro zone and losses in Spanish stocks after the country’s general election yielded no clear winner.
But Irish stocks were the biggest percentage decliner, sinking almost 0.9 per cent after a plunge in Ryanair’s share price.
Meanwhile, a survey showed the downturn in euro zone business activity deepened much more than expected in July, as demand in the bloc’s dominant services industry declined and factory output fell at the fastest pace since Covid-19 first took hold.
Dublin
The Iseq index closed 0.85 per cent lower as modest gains for some stocks were erased by a fall for Ryanair, which plummeted 6.05 per cent to €15.45 after the airline forecast weak passenger traffic for the rest of the year, citing Boeing delivery delays.
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Bank of Ireland was another faller, dropping 1.7 per cent to €9.30, while Kingspan was down 0.65 per cent at €70.
But Smurfit Kappa advanced 0.4 per cent to €34.29, with the packaging group closing at a price of €34.29, while building materials giant CRH was more or less flat at €53.16.
London
The UK’s FTSE 100 edged higher, supported by gains in energy stocks, while a jump in software firm Ocado Group offset losses in travel stocks as airlines lost ground after Ryanair flagged winter travel demand concerns, cutting its passenger growth forecast.
The exporter-heavy FTSE 100 was up 0.2 per cent, while the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 midcap index shed 0.3 per cent.
Ocado Group jumped 14.3 per cent after the online supermarket group and Norwegian robotics firm AutoStore reached a deal to settle patent litigation claims.
The travel and leisure sector lost 0.8 per cent after Ryanair flagged caution around travel demand and cut its passenger growth forecast. EasyJet and Wizz Air Holdings were down 4.4 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively.
Heavyweight energy stocks gained 1.3 per cent tracking higher crude prices, while industrial metal miners rose 0.8 per cent on an anticipated stimulus from China.
Vodafone Group rose 4.1 per cent after the company reported an acceleration in first-quarter revenue growth and said it appointed former SAP chief financial officer Luka Mucic as its new finance chief.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.1 per cent, hovering close to its five-week highs.
Spain’s benchmark Ibex index was down 0.3 per cent, however, having hit a near one-week low earlier in the session, following results from Sunday’s vote which denied both the left and the right bloc an easy path to form a government, pointing to a political gridlock and raising nervousness among investors.
Shares of Madrid-listed utilities, which had priced in a victory for right-wing parties, fell, with Endesa and Iberdrola down 2.7 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively. A gauge of Spanish lenders including Banco de Sabadell, Banco Santander and Caixabank fell 0.3 per cent.
Among other stocks, Bavarian Nordic tumbled 26 per cent to an over one-year low after the Denmark-based company said it was ending its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine programme.
Dutch health technology company Philips slid 5.8 per cent as it posted a fourth straight drop in order intake on Monday.
US
Wall Street’s main indexes climbed as investors braced for earnings from megacap growth and technology companies, while focusing on an interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve.
Helping the Dow notch its longest winning streak in over six years, Chevron gained 3.2 per cent as the oil giant posted upbeat preliminary quarterly earnings over the weekend.
Toymaker Mattel rose 1.9 per cent as the film Barbie set a record as the biggest domestic debut of 2023. – Additional reporting: Reuters
