European shares moved higher on Wednesday amid broad-based gains, with property stocks standing out as a strong feature as investors digested more comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s second day of testimony.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.9 per cent, buoyed by a 2.1 per cent rise in real estate shares.
Meanwhile, Powell said on his second day of congressional testimony he was not ready to conclude that inflation is moving sustainably down to 2 per cent though he had “some confidence of that”.
Markets are now awaiting June inflation data out of the US and Germany due on Thursday to gauge the timing of potential interest rate cuts.
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DUBLIN
The Iseq All-Share index added 0.7 per cent to 9,691.31, with housebuilders joining in the advance by real-estate stocks across Europe. Cairn Homes jumped 3.1 per cent to €1.87, while Glenveagh Properties added 2.3 per cent to €1.35.
HostelWorld dipped 5 per cent to €1.90, as investors saw little to get excited about in a trading update from the hostel booking company. Still, the stock remains up 44 per cent over the past 12 months.
Banking stocks were generally higher, with AIB advancing 0.6 per cent to €5.22, while Bank of Ireland rose 0.9 per cent to €10.15. PTSB ended the session unchanged at €1.32.
LONDON
London stocks closed higher – with the FTSE 100 gaining 0.7 per cent – thanks to a boost from precious metal miners, while hawkish comments by Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill eased bets on an interest-rate cut in August.
Dublin-based, but London-listed Grafton Group moved 3.5 per cent ahead, as the builders merchanting and DIY retailing group said it was confident about its future prospects even as it reiterated that trading conditions remained challenging.
Precious metal miners advanced 3.2 per cent as gold prices steadied ahead of a crucial US inflation report later this week.
Travis Perkins climbed 7.1 per cent after the construction firm named Pete Redfern as its next chief executive.
Aer Lingus’s parent, International Airlines Group (IAG) gained 3 per cent after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to the equivalent of a buy.
EUROPE
French stocks were also up nearly 0.9 per cent after falling in the previous session, as markets assessed the turbulent political situation following Sunday’s legislative election.
Supporting equities, yield on government bonds across the euro zone fell in a sign of investors unwinding the political risk premium they had attached to the countries before the France’s parliamentary runoff vote.
Focus is also on quarterly earnings in the region. Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note: “We expect both earnings and sales to have increased slightly in Q2, marking the first positive y-o-y growth rate since Q1 2023.”
Norwegian aerospace and defence company Kongsberg Gruppen climbed 11 per cent to the top of the benchmark index after reporting strong revenue growth, improved margins and a growing order backlog in the second quarter.
Enagas rose 6.2 per cent after the Spanish grid operator agreed to sell its 30.2 per cent stake in Tallgrass Energy to US investments giant Blackstone for $1.1 billion (€1.02 billion).
NEW YORK
Wall Street shares were higher in early afternoon trading, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 again touching record highs as strength in Nvidia and other mega stocks kept investor sentiment bullish before crucial inflation data and second-quarter earnings later this week.
Fellow so-called Magnificent Seven stocks Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple were also in demand.
With just a handful of large-cap stocks supporting Wall Street’s banner rally this year, participants have been wondering when other sections of the market will catch up, leading some to call for greater diversification.
Intuit, which owns US tax preparation software company TurboTax, was out of sorts as it unveiled plans to lay off about 10 per cent of its workforce.
Gene-sequencing equipment maker Illumina jumped 4.9 per cent on plans to acquire privately held Fluent BioSciences.
– Additional reporting. Reuters.
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