European investors in better spirits after last week’s political uncertainty fuelled losses

Europe’s top stocks saw modest gains on Monday after a bruising week which has seen London overtake Paris as home to the continent’s biggest stock market.

London’s FTSE 100 recovered some of its losses from during the day but closed in the red, down 4.71 points, to 8,142.

It was a much more positive session for France’s Cac 40 which lost more than 6 per cent of its value last week as financial markets reacted to heightened political uncertainty in the country. On Monday the index, which counts the likes of BNP Paribas, LVMH and L’Oreal among its constituents, was 0.91 per cent higher.

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The European sell-off of shares last week predicated on political machinations in France leached into Dublin’s market and so the wider Euro recovery on Monday was also reflected on the Iseq.

AIB and Bank of Ireland both gained as a result, rising 2.2 and 1.6 per cent. Permanent TSB didn’t get the message, falling 1.6 per cent.

Iseq heavyweight Ryanair was marginally up as pilots at rival Aer Lingus moved closer to striking.

As the State awaits Government-commissioned research on housing demand which is expected to say it needs to build 50,000 units a year, home builder Cairn saw its shares rise 1.6 per cent to €1.65.

EUROPE

In Europe stocks edged lower, giving up earlier gains spurred by a rebound in bank and tech shares. The Stoxx 600 index fell 0.09 per cent, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1.54 points or 0.08 per cent.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 1.80 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 795.46, on pace for its third straight session of declines.

European shares slipped again after heavy losses last week, with the Stoxx 600 down about 2.4 per cent, its biggest weekly percentage drop since October, as French president Emmanuel Macron called a snap election hoping to fend off gains by far right and leftist groups against his centrist administration.

LONDON

London’s FTSE closed lower for the third straight session on Monday, ahead of a week of key economic data and the Bank of England’s rate cut decision, with industrial metal miners adding to declines after weak Chinese output numbers.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.1 per cent lower, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.2 per cent.

The FTSE 100 had marked its longest weekly losing streak in more than four years last week after French president Emmanuel Macron’s call for snap elections and hawkish Federal Reserve projections had rattled markets.

Medical equipment and services stocks fell 2.1 per cent, the most among sectoral peers, while industrial miners lost 0.9% on weak Chinese industrial data. Declines were capped by non-life insurers which gained 1.8 per cent.

Among individual stocks Crest Nicholson was up 2.6 per cent after Peel Hunt upgraded its rating to “add” from “hold”. Superdry gained 10 per cent after the retailer said it had received court approval for its restructuring strategy.

NEW YORK

Wall Street’s main indexes edged higher in choppy trading on Monday as investors awaited fresh economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials for more clarity on monetary policy.

Apple and Microsoft helped arrest the losses with gains of 2.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent, while AI chip leader Nvidia retreated from a record high to fall 0.7 per cent.

Some other chip stocks rose though, briefly sending the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index to an all-time high. Broadcom and US-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co were up around 3 per cent each, while Micron Technology jumped 3.5 per cent after price-target raises by brokerages.

Technology was the biggest gainer among the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, while real estate and utilities led declines.

Shares of GameStop tumbled after chief executive Ryan Cohen told investors that the video game retailer plans to operate a smaller network of stores and gave no details on what it plans to do with its cash pile. GameStop shares were down 13.4 per cent at $24.86 on Monday afternoon. - Additional reporting by Reuters

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