European markets climb despite rise in US inflation

Global markets rose while the dollar index fell on Tuesday after data showed US inflation slowed in January, but still rose faster than expected, raising questions about when the Federal Reserve can pause policy tightening.

DUBLIN

Euronext Dublin finished the day up 0.7 per cent, largely in line with its international peers.

Among the main movers was Paddy Power Betfair-owner Flutter, which said it could list its shares in New York by the end of the year depending on the outcome of talks with investors.

“That was generally greeted quite well by investors, with the stock initially up 3 per cent, but it gave some of those gains away,” said a trader. “It is a big undertaking with a lot of implications so the market was trying to digest that, but overall it was relatively positive.”

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Among the financial names Permanent TSB finished the day up almost 8 per cent, while Bank of Ireland moved 2 per cent higher, and AIB was flat on the day.

“PTSB has lagged AIB and Bank of Ireland on the rate cycle move over the past couple of months,” noted a trader. “It played catch up today, and there was decent volume with more than 2.5 million shares traded. “With inflation sticking higher, rates are probably going to remain higher for longer, which suits both AIB and Bank of Ireland.”

LONDON

The FTSE 100 got within touching distance of its next big milestone but failed to push above the 8,000-point mark.

Helped by telecoms companies, London’s top index pushed to as high as 7,996.35, sparking hopes that it might hit the big round number. But despite missing out on the milestone, the score was still an all-time record as the FTSE has soared since the start of this year.

BT, Airtel Africa and Vodafone were all clearly in the green, helping to pull the index up. It came after Liberty Global – a US giant – took a nearly 5 per cent stake in Vodafone. The investment was revealed late on Monday, but Liberty said it does not plan to make a bid for the whole of Vodafone.

Despite its good performance earlier in the day, the FTSE faltered towards the close. By the end of the day it had pared back its gains to just 7,953.85, a rise of 6.25 points of 0.1 per cent.

In company news TUI said that its losses had halved in the three months to the end of December as the travel sector continues to recover from the pandemic. The company said that it had carried 3.3 million customers, a million more than the same quarter a year ago. Shares rose by 0.7 per cent.

Amigo Loans was told on Tuesday that it has been let off a £73 million (€83m) fine because of the terrible state of its finances. Unsurprisingly shares soared on the news, closing up nearly 20 per cent after the City watchdog made the announcement.

EUROPE

On the continent telecommunications and travel and leisure shares helped push the Stoxx 600 index higher. Meanwhile, the German Dax closed up 0.1 per cent, while the French Cac 40 gained 0.3 per cent.

Vodafone Group shares rose after Liberty Global said it had acquired a stake in the rival British telecom group. TUI climbed after the world’s biggest tour operator said summer bookings are running ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

NEW YORK

Wall Street’s main indexes slid after data showed consumer prices accelerated in January, while hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials cemented fears that the central bank will continue raising interest rates this year.

At 12.10pm eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.8 per cent; the S&P 500 was down 0.6 per cent; and the Nasdaq was down 0.4 per cent.

Among single stocks Coca-Cola slipped 1.3 per cent despite a strong full-year profit forecast. Marriott International rose 2 per cent after the hotel operator forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates as it benefited from strong travel demand.

Palantir Technologies soared 13.1 per cent after the data analytics firm forecast its first profitable year.

– Additional reporting: Agencies