European shares rose and Wall Street edged higher on Tuesday as market focus turned to the US midterm elections, which analysts say could lead to a boost for equities.
Dublin
Euronext Dublin was flat on the day, underperforming some of its European peers.
AIB finished the day down 2 per cent after Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe sold a further 5 per cent stake in the bank on the market in a move that raised €396.6 million. The shares were offered at a discount of 5 per cent.
“The stock did quite well today given where the price of the sale was,” said a trader. “Although it is down on the day, it was a fairly strong close.”
Elsewhere, Bank of Ireland, which will report quarterly numbers on Wednesday, was up 0.5 per cent at close of business.
Among the airlines, Ryanair was up 2 per cent, while peers EasyJet added 4 per cent and Aer Lingus parent International Airlines Group gained 1.5 per cent.
DCC, a fuel distribution-to-technology services group, reported strong growth in the first half of the year on Tuesday with operating profit up 13 per cent to £221.2 million (€253.5 million) in the period.
Nonetheless, the market was unimpressed and the company ended the day down 8 per cent. “It was a fairly significant move,” noted a trader. “The market was expecting numbers to be better, and in actuality they were disappointing.”
London
The FTSE 100 trod water and the pound enjoyed an uplift as midterm elections commenced across the pond in the United States.
London’s blue-chip index lost about 50 points during its lows of the day, dragged down by debt-burdened Irish firm DCC and downbeat housebuilder Persimmon. But it managed to claw back its losses and had edged up by just 0.08 per cent at the end of the day.
Primark’s parent company AB Foods raked in pretax profits of £1.1 billion in the year to mid-September and it saw a boost in its revenue. Its share price was up by 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, it was a difficult day for house building giant Persimmon, which has been caught up in the tide of tougher selling conditions in the property market. Investors reacted to the gloomy outlook and shares in Persimmon were down by 5.2 per cent.
Insurer Direct Line said it would be launching more basic and affordable car insurance policies after seeing a reduction in new business sales. Shares fell as much as 8 per cent in early trading on Tuesday but ended the day 3.1 per cent lower.
Europe
European stocks gained ground, following their US counterparts higher as investors watched election day get under way in the United States.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.73 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.94 per cent.
The German Dax enjoyed strong gains. It was up 1.12 per cent when markets closed, while the French Cac 40 saw a softer jump of 0.37 per cent.
New York
US stock indexes rose for the third straight session on Tuesday as voting began in the crucial midterm election that will determine control of Congress, with investors hoping for a political gridlock which could prevent radical policy changes.
Ten of the 11 S&P sectors advanced, led by materials, which rose 2.5 per cent and was up for the fourth consecutive session. Rate-sensitive technology stocks gained 2 per cent as Treasury yields took a breather.
Helping the blue-chip Dow outperform its Wall Street peers, shares of drugmaker Amgen climbed 6.5 per cent to a record high after reporting positive data related to its cholesterol drug and obesity treatment.
Semiconductor stocks gained 3 per cent, driven by a 3.2 per cent rise in chipmaker Nvidia. Take-Two Interactive Software fell 9.9 per cent after the video game publisher lowered its annual sales outlook, while ride-hailing firm Lyft dropped 21.1 per cent.
