European shares fall after six-day winning run

Bad economic and company news left European shares trailing on Friday, breaking a six-day winning run.

DUBLIN

Complaints of a slide in UK construction hit insulation specialist Kingspan, which has a number of businesses in Britain. Its shares slid 3.5 per cent to €47.44 in Dublin.

Airline Ryanair dipped 0.91 per cent to €10.885, but traders noted that the stock had been doing "relatively well" lately.

Paddy Power owner, global gambling giant Flutter Entertainment, gave back some of the gains it made earlier this week on the back of speculation of a bid. The parent of Paddy Power, Betfair and Australia's Sportsbet shed 1.54 per cent to close at €75.48. The stock gained 12 per cent on Wednesday on rumours that a bid was in the offing, but the company said that there was "nothing material" behind the surge in its price.

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Green Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) added 1.43 per cent. Traders said the company had been attracting investors' interest since its board announced several weeks ago that it was for sale. Rival Hibernia Reit was quiet, dipping 0.4 per cent to €1.454.

Dalata Hotel Group took another hit, tumbling 2,65 per cent to close at €4.77, the lowest price at which it traded during the day. Dealers said the stock had been under pressure lately.

LONDON

Builders' merchant SIG slid 5.29 per cent to 125.4 pence sterling on a weak trading update that partly blamed a "marked construction deterioration" in the UK.

The news had a knock-on effect on Irish group Grafton, owner of Woodie's DIY, which has a significant UK builders' supplies business and is listed on the London market. Grafton fell 1.49 per cent to 795.5p.

SIG's news prompted investors to ditch UK construction stocks. Housebuilder Persimmon shed 2.11 per cent to 1,922p while its rival Taylor Wimpey also skidded, ending the trailing by 1.55 per cent at 158.65p.

EasyJet added 1.28 per cent to 1,026p on a day when there was some activity across aviation after Brussels approved Connect Airways' takeover of Flybe.

Aer Lingus and British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) dipped 0.26 per cent to 456.5p after publishing figures showing growth in passenger numbers and revenue in the first six months of the year.

Speciality chemicals maker Victrex lost 7 per cent and electrical engineering firm Spectris retreated 5.8 per cent after the stocks were slapped with rating downgrades.

EUROPE

Deutsche Bank gained ground after announcing that Garth Ritchie, the German lender's head of investment banking, was stepping down. Its shares added 2.47 per cent to €7.175. Mr Ritchie is leaving by mutual agreement while chief executive Christian Sewing will take responsibility for the investment banking division.

Auto maker BMW dipped 0.089 per cent to €67.05. Chief executive Harald Krueger said he would not seek to extend his tenure beyond April 2020, ending speculation about whether he would remain in the job for another five years. Board member Oliver Zipse is tipped to succeed him.

Norwegian Air Shuttle climbed 11.09 per cent to €4.52 on renewed speculation that IAG would bid by for the troubled carrier. IAG dismissed the rumour, but the Scandinavian group held its stock price gains through the day.

NEW YORK

US stocks lost ground, retreating from record levels hit in the previous session, after strong US job growth in June pushed investors to scale back bets on aggressive interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

At 11:01 am eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 186.45 points, or 0.69 per cent at 26,779.55.

The Philadelphia chip index fell 1.3 per cent after Samsung Electronics forecast a steep plunge in its second-quarter operating profit, as a supply glut and rising tariffs hit global demand for electronics. Additional reporting: Reuters