Most European shares advanced on Tuesday, as upbeat earnings reports allowed investors to largely shrug off a sharp global dip in semiconductor stocks from Tokyo to New York.
Dublin
Performing in line with its European counterparts, the Iseq index moved 0.3 per cent higher in a light volume session.
Kerry Group registered the biggest gains, adding more than 3 per cent to close at €85.56 per share on the eve of its half-year earnings report.
Other index heavyweights also advanced, with Kingspan adding 2.7 per cent to €77.60 per share, while Glanbia jumped to €22.94, up by almost 2 per cent.
RM Block
Ryanair also gained momentum amid fresh hopes for a resolution to the US-Iran conflict, which has sent oil futures and jet fuel prices soaring. The airline rose by a little under 0.9 per cent to €24.78 per share.
Meanwhile, with banks leading sectoral declines across Europe, Bank of Ireland shed 1.6 per cent and AIB fell by 1.7 per cent.
London
Britain’s main indices edged higher, with the blue-chip FTSE 100 up 0.9 per cent and the mid-cap FTSE up 0.2 per cent.
An earnings-driven jump in consumer-focused stocks helped shield the benchmark index from a decline in energy and banking stocks.
Unilever jumped by almost 9 per cent after the company raised its annual forecast and delivered its strongest quarterly volume growth in more than a decade, as consumers continued to buy brands such as Vaseline, Dove and Cif despite concerns over household budgets.
Coats jumped 9.7 per cent to the top of the mid-cap index after the thread maker reported higher first-half profit.
Meanwhile, banks led sectoral declines, falling 0.7 per cent after Barclays slipped 5.7 per cent despite reporting a better-than-expected 17 per cent rise in first-half profit, suggesting investors had already priced in robust results from British banks.
Oil majors Shell and BP also fell as oil prices slid more than 2 per cent as hopes for a resolution to the US-Iran conflict grew.
Europe
Spurred on by upbeat earnings reports, Europe’s main indices advanced with the blue-chip Stoxx 50 up 0.2 per cent and the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 0.4 per cent.
The European earnings season has been reassuring so far, with about 49.5 per cent of MSCI Europe companies that have reported results delivering beats, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
This helped offset the impact of the escalating global sell-off in semiconductor stocks on Tuesday, fuelled by investor concerns about excessive artificial intelligence (AI) spending.
Safran SA rose 2.3 per cent after the French defence group boosted its full-year guidance following first-half results that beat estimates.
Mercedes-Benz added 3 per cent after the German car maker reported a 22 per cent rise in quarterly operating profit. Luxury stocks got a boost after LVMH reported a 3 per cent rise in quarterly sales. Its shares added 1 per cent, while the broader European luxury index also edged up.
New York
The landscape was different on Wall Street as US tech stocks entered correction territory and the main indices were mixed, with most down. However, by midmorning the Nasdaq had regained ground, the Dow was up 1.19 per cent and S&P up 0.37 per cent.
The Nasdaq was down by as much as 1.6 per cent earlier in the session, as worries about the eventual pay-offs from AI investments soured sentiment in the technology giants that have powered most of this year’s stock market advance.
Chip majors such as Micron slid 6.4 per cent, Nvidia dropped 1.2 per cent and Intel shed 5 per cent. US-listed shares of Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s SK Hynix fell 2.7 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.
Global markets have become increasingly volatile this month as investors scrutinise the need for more corporate spending on AI infrastructure such as semiconductors that underpinned strong gains in chip stocks in the previous quarter. – Additional reporting: Reuters and Bloomberg
