European shares climb as commodity price rise pushes up mining

European shares climbed on Wednesday as commodity prices rose, pushing up mining and related stocks.

DUBLIN

Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment slipped 1.82 per cent to €156.10. One of the Irish betting giant's rivals, London-listed 888, warned that the benefit it has received from customers being stuck at home by their computers will likely fall away in coming months.

AIB shed 1.24 per cent to €2.074 while rival Bank of Ireland added 1.3 per cent to €4.519.

House builder Cairn Homes was off 1.25 per cent at €1.108. The Government this week confirmed that it was ending a fast-track planning scheme for big housing estates in a general overhaul of legislation.

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Index heavyweight, international building materials giant, CRH rose 1.6 per cent to €42.62.

LONDON

Miners all gained ground as commodity prices rose sharply. BHP rose 68 pence sterling to 2,201.5p; Anglo American gained 90.5p to 2,991p; Glencore advanced 8.15p to 318.15p; Rio Tinto added 153p at 6,038p and Antofagasta climbed 35.5p at 1,440p.

However, oil companies did not fare so well as crude prices dipped. Anglo-Dutch major, Shell, slipped 0.5 per cent to 1,451.2p while BP lost 1 per cent to 307.7p.

Shell’s prices originally rose after it told the markets it would boost payouts to shareholders by 20 per cent to 30 per cent from this month because of rising oil prices.

Aer Lingus and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group fell 5.72p or more than 3.1 per cent to 180.8p. Aircraft engine and high-end auto maker Rolls Royce slid 2.78p or about 2 per cent to 100.88p.

Both Page Group and Robert Walters were also trading up about 3 per cent by the end of play in London.

The recruiting firms released results showing they are bouncing back from the pandemic, although their UK businesses are lagging behind other markets. Housebuilder Vistry's results were better than expected, with average weekly sales up 10 per cent on 2019 levels. Shares rose 0.6 per cent to 1,220p.

Shares in on-line betting business 888 proved a poor gamble on Wednesday, dipping 5.7 per cent to 386p, after it warned that the benefit it received due to lockdown will likely fall away in coming months.

Also in the red was JD Wetherspoon, down a little under 2 per cent at 1,215p. The pub chain said like-for-like sales dipped between mid May and early July, a drop that accelerated during the Euro 2020 tournament.

EUROPE

German software developer SAP, Europe's most valuable tech stock, gained 3.5 per cent to €124.50 as its industry proved popular with investors on Wednesday.

Germany’s DAX posted its best session in seven weeks, up 1.2 per cent. As copper and iron ore prices rose, mining stocks made back 2.3 per cent from Tuesday’s 2.5 per cent drop.

French state-controlled power group EDF added 2 per cent to €11.40 after raising its 2021 core earnings target, given its new estimate for nuclear output in France.

With earnings season set to kick off later in July, analysts are expecting profits at STOXX 600 companies to jump 108.6 per cent in the second-quarter versus a year ago, as per Refinitiv IBES data.

Swiss duty-free retailer Dufry fell after Italy's Autogrill denied rumours of a potential tie-up between the companies.

Both slipped more than 1.5 per cent with Dufry closing at 56 Swiss francs and Autogrill ending the day at €6.38.

US

Mega-cap technology names Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon. com, Microsoft and Apple gained between 0.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent, as their value rests heavily on future earnings, which are discounted more deeply when bond returns go up.

China's market regulator said it has fined a number of internet companies including Didi Global, Tencent and Alibaba for failing to report earlier merger and acquisition deals for approval. US-listed shares of Didi fell 7 per cent, adding to a nearly 20 per cent slump on Tuesday. – Additional reporting: Reuters