Markets wary of possible US rate rise

The Iseq nudged ahead by a modest 0.2 per cent yesterday, as European stocks held their ground after swinging between gains and losses throughout the day. A jump in US retail sales boosted optimism about the world’s largest economy, while also raising concern that interest rates may go up soon.

The UK’s top shares rose for the first time in six sessions yesterday, helped by companies with exposure to Scotland, after another poll showed a majority would vote against independence next week.

National benchmark indexes fell in 10 of the 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1 per cent, while Germany’s DAX lost 0.4 per cent. France’s CAC 40 was little changed.

DUBLIN

Glanbia

climbed 0.27 per cent to €11.24 following the news it has agreed to pay $153 million for

Isopure

, a US sports nutrition company. The stock opened higher and was up by 0.66 per cent in early morning trading, before falling back. Glanbia is building an increasingly strong position in the US nutritionals market.

Dalata, the hotel company run by former Jurys chief executive Pat McCann, rose 1.61 per cent to €3.15. It was among six potential bidders named by The Irish Times yesterday as being in the running for the €400 million Moran's hotel group.

CPL Resources, Anne Heraty's recruitment company, is in favour as the Irish economy improves and unemploymeny continues to fall. It rose 2.21 per cent to close the day at €6.95 per share.

LONDON

The UK benchmark spiked around mid-session, hauled up by a jump in shares in oil major BP, a move which several traders blamed on a likely human error, or “fat finger” trade.

The flurry of activity in BP shares at 10.40am saw the issue jump 4.8 per cent to 494.9 pence, adding about £4.3 billion pounds to the company’s market value. The shares ended the session down 0.4 per cent at 470.15 pence.

Whitbread was among the top losers on the FTSE 100, down 1.9 per cent, as UBS downgraded the owner of Premier Inn hotels and Costa Coffee to "sell" from "neutral".

Among mid-caps, Aveva Group, whose software is used to design power plants, shipping and oil and gas facilities, tumbled about 25 per cent as it warned about a £14 million hit to its first-half revenue from currency moves and the phasing of some rental renewals.

EUROPE

RWE fell 1.8 per cent to €31.01 after JP Morgan downgraded the German utility.

Novo Nordisk

rose 2.7 per cent to 274 kroner, its highest price in at least 23 years. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel supported the approval of its weight-loss injection Saxenda.

Lagardere added 3.9 per cent to €21.35 after HSBC Holding upgraded the media company to overweight, the equivalent of a buy recommendation, citing recent stock declines. Lagardere is down 32 per cent since this year's high in May.

NEW YORK

Caterpillar

slumped 0.9 per cent to $104.68.

Bank of America

earlier this week lowered its rating to neutral from buy. The shares have lost 3.8 per cent since September 4th.

Yahoo rose 3 per cent to $42.49 after Alibaba received enough demand for its IPO for it to say it plans to stop taking orders. Yahoo is set to get an $8 billion windfall from the flotation. Alibaba plans to set a final price for the shares on Thursday.

Conversant, which helps companies target users with internet ads based on their online searches, soared 30 per cent to $34.80. Alliance Data agreed to buy the company for $2.3 billion, or $35 a share, according to a statement.

Hertz advanced 0.8 per cent to $27.97 after the rental-car company agreed to replace three directors with Carl Icahn associates. In return, the billionaire investor agreed not to seek board representation and to vote in favour of company nominees at Hertz's 2015 AGM.

– (Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters)