European stocks rebound on good news from US

European stocks rebounded yesterday on better-than-expected jobs news from the US.

Disappointment with the European Central Bank’s asset-buying programme triggered a sell-off of stocks across the EU on Thursday.

However, they bounced back yesterday after figures showed the US jobless rate fell in September to 5.9 per cent, the lowest level since July 2008, and employers added more workers than projected.

DUBLIN

House builder Abbey rose 1.07 per cent to €10.93 after telling shareholders at its annual general meeting in Dublin that it was on track for a good year.

Low-cost airline Ryanair added 2.52 per cent to close at €7.597 following news its nearest rival, Easyjet was upping its full-year profit forecasts.The Irish airline posted strong passenger figures this week.

Bank of Ireland rose 4.78 per cent to close at 30.7 cent on further good news for the Republic's economy. Bookmaker Paddy Power rose 1.16 per cent to €56.90. Building materials and insulation specialist Kingspan slid 2.1 per cent to €12.365.

CRH dipped 0.92 per cent to €17.61, Smurfit Kappa dropped 0.66 per cent to €16.86.

LONDON

EasyJet rallied 6.4 per cent to 1,459 pence sterling. Europe's second-biggest discount airline said it expects to report pretax profit of at least £575 million for the year ended September 30th.

United Utilities Group gained 3.3 per cent to 810 pence after announcing a revised business plan for 2015-2020 that cuts planned expenditure by about £370 million.

Tesco dropped 3.4 per cent to 172.15, falling for a seventh day and extending an 11-year low. The UK's biggest grocer is considering options including a rights offering of about £3 billion, the Financial Times's Alphaville blog said.

Engineering firm Renishaw picked up by 6 per cent to 1,682 pence after posting a 28 per cent rise in first quarter revenues compared to last year, to a record £101 million. Chairman and chief executive Sir David McMurtry said the trend was expected to continue in the second quarter.

Homeware retailer Dunelm lifted more than 4 per cent to 829 pence, after posting like-for-like sales growth of 8.9 per cent for the 13 weeks to September 27th.

Shares in department store Debenhams received a boost after Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's Sports Direct empire increased its stake in the group to 11.2 per cent. The stock rose 2.9 per cent to 61.75 pence. Sports Direct climbed 2.5 per cent to 610 pence.

EUROPE

Immofinanz advanced 2.5 percent to €2.22. UniCredit agreed to sell its 16.4 per cent stake in CA Immobilien Anlagen to a Cyprus-based investment fund. At least three investors including Immofinanz had bid for that stake, sources said this week.

ECB officials will require Greece to stay under economic surveillance to be eligible for the asset-purchase programme being introduced by the central bank. The country's market suffered as a result. Piraeus Bank lost 6.6 per cent to €1.28 while gambling operator Opap slid 1.1 per cent to €10.88.

US

Medtronic's confirmation of its commitment to buy Dublin-based Covidien sparked a rally in both stocks.

Medtronic changed the structure of the deal, saying that it would use $16 billion in debt rather than cash held overseas, reacting to changes made by US tax authorities to cut the benefits of such "inversion deals".

Shares of Medtronic were up 3.7 per cent to $65.11, moving on volume of about 22.9 million shares, well above its 50-day average of 7.8 million and putting it on track for its most active day since June 16th, the first session after the deal was announced. Covidien added 5.8 per cent to $93.95 in its biggest one-day advance since the deal was announced.

Volume of about 16.4 million shares was many times its 50-day average of 4.4 million.