Market concern grows over weak inflation data

This week a stream of weak inflation data in the US, Britain and the euro zone fuelled concerns that the US Federal Reserve will be forced to wait until deep into 2016 before hiking interest rates. Cheap cash tends to favour investors buying shares, and markets did well.

The Iseq index of Irish shares closed at 6,287.26, a rise of 0.85 per cent. DUBLIN Traders in Dublin were upbeat, reporting another good day in what has been the best run in a while.

Glanbia had a good session. Traders said investors in Ireland to look at the Kerry innovation plant in Naas, were also taking time to check out other Irish food groups, and that this appeared to be giving them a boost. Glanbia closed at €16.46, a rise of 2.27 per cent, while Kerry itself closed at €68.80, a rise of 0.73 per cent.

Ryanair had another good day, closing at €13.35, a rise of 2.61 per cent, while market heavyweight, CRH, fell slightly, by 0.08 per cent, to close at €23.83.

LONDON London climbed higher, led by bid speculation at drug firm Shire. The FTSE 100 Index was up 39.4 points to 6378, as Tesco rose strongly as traders digested the supermarket’s sale of 14 development sites in its drive to cut costs.The retailer was up 4.8p to 197p, following the announcement that it had sold the sites for £250 million as it continues its cost-cutting strategy.

Shire was the top riser on the main market up 3.1 per cent, or 136p to 4511p, amid speculation that it was looking to take over US rival Radius Health.

Miner Glencore fell almost 2 per cent, or 1.8p to 116p, after being the strongest riser in the top flight for much of the session.

Vodafone was also up 2.2p to 209.3p, after it agreed to expand its deal with Russian- owned rival MTS Ukraine. EUROPE European shares closed at their highest level in five weeks, helped by expectations monetary policy will remain accommodative, with French retailer Carrefour leading the advance on good quarterly results.

Germany’s DAX was up 0.4 per cent, while France’s Cac 40 was up 0.6 per cent.

Carrefour shares rose 6.6 per cent after Europe‘s largest retailer reported that sales accelerated in the third quarter. That reflected an improved performance in southern Europe and resilience in Brazil despite a slowing economy.

Spanish blue-chip index Ibex outperformed the rest of Europe, lifted by gains in banks Santander, BBVA and Banco Popular of between 3 and 1.5 per cent. Talk of a sovereign rating upgrade of Spain, which pushed government bond yields lower, helped banking stocks.

NEW YORK US stocks were little changed as investors absorbed positive consumer sentiment data and mixed results from industrial heavyweights GE and Honeywell.

GE’s shares rose as much as 3.4 per cent to $28.99 – their highest since the financial crisis - after reporting better-than-expected earnings. The stock provided the biggest boost to the S&P500.

But Honeywell fell 2.5 per cent to $96.10 even though it also beat profit estimates. Industrial tool maker Grainger slumped 5.9 per cent to $208.62 after results.

At 12:52pm local time, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 18.64 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 17,160.39, the S&P 500 was up 1.29 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 2,025.15.

Twitter rose 3.6 per cent to $30.79 after Bloomberg reported that former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer owns a 4 per cent stake in the company.

Youku Tudou jumped 22.3 per cent to $24.98 after Alibaba offered to buy the video-streaming company for $26.60 per American Depository Share. Alibaba was flat at $71.82.

Yum Brands rose 3.9 per cent to $71.97 after the company said it had appointed activist investor Keith Meister to its board. – (Additional reporting, Reuter, Press Association)