European stocks fell on Monday, in line with Wall Street, as still-high government bond yields prompted investors to pull out of equities.
Trading volumes were thin in advance of the new year holiday on Wednesday. Stock markets in Germany, Italy and Switzerland are also shut on Tuesday, while those in the UK, France and Ireland have a half-day trading session.
Dublin
The Iseq managed to finish in positive territory, having spent most of the trading session in the red, with the index scraping a 0.2 per cent gain amid low trading volumes across the board.
Kerry Group was among the climbers, with the food giant rising 0.5 per cent to €92.55, while building materials company Kingspan also advanced 0.5 per cent, closing at €69.95.
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Ryanair was more sluggish on the day, edging down 0.1 per cent to €19.11. But Bank of Ireland added 0.7 per cent to €8.69 and AIB closed 0.4 per cent higher at €5.31 on what was the last full day of Dublin trading in 2024.
London
The FTSE 100 fell 0.4 per cent, with gold miners leading broader market declines as investors booked some profits heading into the new year. The mid-cap FTSE 250 also lost 0.4 per cent.
Precious metal miners led sectoral declines on the day with a 2 per cent loss, trading at their lowest levels in more than three months, as gold prices slipped. Personal goods followed with a 1.1 per cent decline.
Most big FTSE 350 sectors lost ground, though banks and travel and leisure shares gained 0.3 per cent each.
Further clues on the Bank of England’s monetary policy trajectory will likely be on the radar of investors in early 2025.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.6 per cent lower, with technology and healthcare stocks leading broad-based declines.
The 10-year German bund yield traded near its highest since mid-November, tracking a rise in US Treasury yields, as uncertainty around monetary policy next year and prospects of inflationary policies under a Trump presidency weighed on investor sentiment.
The Stoxx 600 is on course for a 5.9 per cent annual rise. The German Dax dipped 0.4 per cent on its final trading day of a year in which it surged 19 per cent, making it the top performer this year among big European indices.
But France’s Cac 40 is set for an annual drop of 2.5 per cent, driven by concerns about the country’s spiralling fiscal deficit and political turmoil. It fell 0.6 per cent on Monday.
Among individual stocks, Siemens Healthineers dipped 1.7 per cent after Siemens AG’s chief financial officer Ralf Thomas told Handelsblatt that the German technology group is reviewing its majority stake in its medical technology unit.
BayWa surged 17 per cent after the Munich-based trader of farming supplies and produce said it had reached a restructuring agreement with its big shareholders and financiers.
US
Wall Street’s main stock indexes fell in early trading. Sparse trading volumes and the spectre of elevated Treasury yields cast a cloud over the traditionally strong year-end rally for equities.
Growth stocks such as Tesla and Meta dropped 3.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively, while chip company Broadcom lost 3.8 per cent.
The weakness was atypical as equities tend to do well in the last five trading days of December and into the first two days of January, a phenomenon dubbed the “Santa Claus rally”.
Meanwhile, it was announced that US stock markets will not open on January 9th in observance of a national day of mourning for former president Jimmy Carter.
— Additional reporting: Reuters
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