Heavyweight CRH and airline stocks lift Dublin

It was a mixed day on the markets as European markets extended gains, although London saw its stocks end little changed.

Dublin

The Irish index of shares ended Friday 1 per cent higher, lifted by airline stocks and heavyweight

CRH

.

The overall Iseq rose 63.17 points to 5,867.64, bouncing back after the release of US data earlier in the day had caused markets throughout Europe to stall. Traders pointed to the end of the month as a factor in the rise of some stocks, as investors reposition their portfolios.

CRH saw its share price rise 1.75 per cent to €27.475, with little news to force the shift.

Airlines have been under pressure in recent sessions, but Ryanair rose 0.3 per cent, finishing the day at €11.935.

Banking stocks were lower, with Bank of Ireland falling 2.6 per cent to 18.5 cent. The bank had earlier reported underlying profit of €560 million for the first six months of 2016, down from €763 million in the same period a year earlier. Permanent TSB saw its shares fall 1 per cent to €2.1340.

London

British shares ended little changed, with the FTSE 100 index ending a five-week winning streak as education publisher

Pearson

slumped after posting results.

The index was down 0.05 per cent at its close, underperforming the broader European market. The index ended the week down 0.1 per cent after five straight weeks of gains, having hit a 12-month high on Wednesday.

Pearson, the world's biggest educational publisher, slumped 9 per cent after reporting a miss in its first-half sales.

Household product manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser dropped 1.5 per cent after reducing its full-year outlook because of a scandal over humidifier sanitisers in South Korea.

Barclays was the top gainer among the blue chips, soaring 5.5 per cent after a well-received update. Although it reported a 21 per cent drop in first-half pre-tax profit, the bank saw improved returns in its core business, with core pre-tax profit up 19 per cent to £3.97 billion. Analysts also pointed to the fact that Barclays had not announced any job cuts or branch closures, as its peer Lloyds had done when it reported results on Thursday.

Outside the blue chips, mid-cap Essentra, a supplier of specially plastic and packaging components, slumped 22 per cent after issuing a warning on its full-year revenue.

Europe

European shares extended their biggest monthly gain since October, with banks leading the gains amid earnings results.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria rose 3.7 per cent and UBS added 1.9 per cent after they reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts' estimates. France's Natixis gained 7.6 per cent as its profit and revenue topped projections. Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena surged 6.3 per cent after receiving a proposal to turn around the the ailing lender.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed 0.7 per cent, taking its monthly rise to 3.6 per cent.

New York

US stocks were little changed after

Alphabet

and

Amazon’s

strong results overnight lifted technology stocks, helping offset losses in energy shares. Investor sentiment was also dented by a slower-than-expected growth in US gross domestic product.

Exxon shares fell 4 per cent and Chevron 2 per cent as a slump in oil prices hurt their quarterly results. The two stocks were the biggest drags on the S&P 500 index and the Dow.

However, a 4.6 per cent jump in shares of Google's parent Alphabet and a 1.5 per cent rise in Amazon. com helped keep the S&P and the Nasdaq in positive territory. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg / Reuters)