Business

Wall Street recovery drives rise in global shares ahead of earnings reports

Euronext Dublin up just over 1% at close of business on ‘strong day’ for the market, traders say

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street’s main indexes advanced as growth and chip shares gained. Photograph: Angela Weiss/Getty Images

Colin Gleeson
Tue Apr 23 2024 - 17:50

Global shares rose on Tuesday, driven by a recovery on Wall Street, where investors are focused on earnings reports from the US megacaps, and the yen hit multiyear lows against the dollar and the euro.

Dublin

Euronext Dublin was up just over 1 per cent at close of business on what was described as a “strong day” for the market by traders.

Insulation specialist Kingspan was one of the best performers on the day as it climbed 2.3 per cent in advance of a trading update on Friday. “It seems investors were buying in advance of that,” noted a trader.

Another strong performer was budget airline Ryanair, which rose 2.1 per cent, while, elsewhere, builder Cairn Homes was up 2 per cent.

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Kenmare Resources also climbed up 2 per cent after stockbroker Davy issued a note to say the stock is currently “very attractive”.

“The most significant change is that we now assume $100 million of factoring of receivables in 2024 before drawing down the new $200 million credit facility,” the group said.

Among the financial names, Bank of Ireland outperformed AIB, as the two groups rose 2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.

On the downside, box-maker Smurfit Kappa slipped 1.4 per cent in advance of a number of US peers reporting.

“Everybody is watching the US now with all the big tech companies about to report, so it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to that,” noted a Dublin-based trader.

London

The UK’s top stock market index retreated after setting a record high on Tuesday, amid a dampening of hopes that the Bank of England will cut interest rates imminently.

The FTSE 100 peaked at 8,076.52 points earlier in the day but closed up 0.26 per cent in the end. A weaker pound plus hopes of easing tensions in the Middle East helped drive the blue-chip index to its new all-time high intraday price.

Primark owner Associated British Foods was the FTSE’s top riser after profits jumped more than a third at its half-year results.

Shares in the group, which also owns food brands Ovaltine and Ryvita, rose 9 per cent to 2,731p (€3.18) after it posted a 37 per cent increase in pretax profit to £881 million for the year ending March 2nd.

Meanwhile, JD Sports Fashion’s stock jumped 3.76 per cent to 122.9p after it agreed a $1.08 billion (€1.01 billion) deal to buy American sportswear retailer Hibbett as it pushes further into the US.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were AB Foods, up 225p to 2,731p, Ocado, up 19.4p to 377.8p, JD Sports, up 4.45p to 122.9p, St James’s Place, up 12.8p to 444.2p, and Ashtead, up 162p to 5,724p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Smurfit Kappa, down 84p to 3,466p, Anglo American, down 49p to 2,111p, Antofagasta, down 46p to 2,155p, Mondi, down 26.5p to 1,500p, and Croda, down 85p to 4,888p.

Europe

The continent’s major markets made modest gains. The German Dax index was up 1.58 per cent at the close and the Cac 40 in France closed up 0.87 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx 600 rose 1 per cent on gains in the technology sector, while MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 1.05 per cent, pulling away from Friday’s two-month low.

New York

Wall Street’s main indexes advanced as growth and chip shares gained, while stocks such as General Motors and Spotify rose on upbeat earnings updates in advance of quarterly reports from big technology companies.

Megacap growth stocks including Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Alphabet gained between 1.4 per cent and 2.6 per cent. The tech majors are scheduled to report their quarterly numbers this week, with Tesla kicking off the cycle after markets close on Tuesday.

Rising chip stocks also offered support to equities, with Nvidia, Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices up between 2.5 per cent and 3.3 per cent. – Additional reporting: Agencies

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

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