Global shares traded slightly higher on Thursday, helped in part by increased investor confidence in retail and industrial sectors and in spite of the market-moving decision by Jensen Huang to resign as chief executive of artificial intlligence-chip maker Nvidia following reports that he was in a relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.
Closer to home, Dublin closed the trading day in the red, with typical Iseq-heavyweights retreating from their recent and rapid rises in share prices.
Dublin
The Iseq All-Share index decreased 0.16 per cent to close at 15,011.50 by end of trading hours. Ryanair shares dipped 0.77 per cent to €25.80, continuing its descent from a high-flying growth streak last week after its chief executive Michael O’Leary alluded to expansion plans in the new year.
Insulation specialists Kingspan, who forecast a rise in trading profits this year, saw its share price retreat 1.42 per cent to €97.30 a share, after it rose up to €99 earlier in the week.
RM Block
Bank of Ireland, too, declined 0.51 per cent to close at €19.52 a share, while retail banking rival AIB ended the day in the green, up 0.39 per cent to €11.60 a share.
London
The London Stock Exchange closed largely in the green, although the city’s two most prominent share indices ended either side of the boundary. The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.26 per cent to close, while its mid-market equivalent the FTSE 150 index dipped slightly, down 0.03 per cent.
With close to no change in the energy sector, household name brands were the biggest movers of the day, with supermarket giant Tesco up 0.25 per cent and Coca Cola going one further, rising 1.25 per cent by close of markets.
The city’s financial sector saw mixed returns, with consumer banking rivals Lloyds and Barclays at either end of the spectrum, up 0.25 per cent and down 0.61 per cent, respectively.
Shares in shoe brand Doc Martens plummeted, down 14.67 per cent after the company shared a worse than expected financial performance for the first half of this year. High street bookshop giant WH Smith, too, saw its share price collapse, down 6.70 per cent after investors learned of a pretax loss last year.
Europe
Shares across the Continent held their nerve and grew slightly, with the blue-chip Stoxx 50 index increasing 0.13 per cent and the mid-cap Stoxx 600 index rising 0.25 per cent by close of markets.
A largely poor day for the European banking sector, with Spain’s Santander down 1.88 per cent, Germany’s Deutsche Bank falling 0.80 per cent France’s BNP Paribas dipping 0.08 per cent in the negative – although Allianz’ 1,90 per cent share price increase dragging the industry just above neutral.
The energy and industrial sectors fare better: Siemens was up 1.70 per cent, while Italian oil giant EniSpa grew 1.07 per cent. The luxury market, however, struggled to keep up, with Hermes dipping 0.07 per cent below yesterday’s closing price.
New York
Early trades on Wall Street edged the three big US stock indexes slightly higher before midday New York time, even as AI chipmaker Nvidia’s shares fell following its chief executive Jensen Huang’s resignation.
The S&P 500 was up some 0.20 per cent, as was the Nasdaq 100 index, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average trailed slightly behind the two, up some 0.15 per cent within the first three hours of trading.
Nvidia said its chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive as the company looks for a permanent successor. Nvidia shares were last down about 4 per cent but off the day’s lows.
Chinese tech firms that use Nvidia chips for their artificial intelligence models fell sharply. Alibaba was down 7.1% in US trading, while Tencent dropped 2.6% earlier. Some investors are concerned Washington may curb access to offshore data centres with the most advanced processors. – Additional reporting: Reuters.
