Opening of new base boosts Ryanair

US stock prices held firm after the Dow and Standard & Poor‘s 500 reached record intraday highs, while crude fell below $80 a barrel for the first time in four years on further signs of a slowdown in China‘s economy.

Data from Beijing showed below-forecast factory output and investment growth at a near 13-year low, reinforcing signs that the world’s second biggest economy would have its weakest growth in almost 24 years this year.

Falling energy costs have raised concerns about profits of major oil companies. DUBLIN Ryanair announced it will open a base at Bratislava Airport in March from which it will operate 16 routes, including daily flights between the Slovak capital and Dublin. The base will be its first in Slovakia and its 71st overall. The share closed up 1.04 per cent at €8.43.

Aer Lingus closed at €1.67, a rise of 0.30 per cent.

International buildings materials group CRH closed at €17.28, a drop of just 0.03 per cent. while Bank of Ireland fell 1.04 per cent, to €0.28.

FBD fell another 4 per cent to €10.80. LONDON Britain’s top equity index bounced back from the previous day’s fall, with holiday cruise company Carnival and retailer Dixons Carphone among the top performers.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.4 per cent at 6,635.45 points, continuing its recovery from 15-month lows in October and marking its highest level in around 1½ months.

Carnival rose 2.8 per cent, the best performing FTSE stock in percentage terms, while British Airways operator International Consolidated Airlines advanced 2 per cent as it benefited from a new fall in the price of oil.

Dixons Carphone also rose 2.3 per cent, which traders attributed to expectations it could do well at Christmas.

Revenues at builders’ merchanting and DIY group Grafton advanced 10.1 per cent to £1.8 billion in the first 10 months of the year, supported by increased demand in the residential repair, maintenance and improvement markets in the UK and Ireland. The stock closed at 657p, a fall of 1.94 per cent. EUROPE European stocks pared early gains and turned negative as energy shares sank along with Brent crude prices.

Worries about weak price growth in the euro zone were evident in a European Central Bank survey of forecasters that intensified speculation the ECB would embark on more action to avert deflation.

The yield on 10-year German Bunds was little changed at 0.800 per cent.

RWE said the sale of its Dea oil and gas unit to a group led by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman may be delayed until next year as the German utility waits for regulatory approvals.

“We cannot predict whether we will be able to bring the talks to a conclusion this year,” chief executive officer Peter Terium said in a letter to shareholders of Essen, Germany-based RWE. NEW YORK US stocks fluctuated near record levels in early trade as losses in small caps and energy shares overshadowed corporate deals and better-than-estimated results from Wal-Mart Stores. Wal-Mart jumped 4.4 per cent after earnings topped forecasts.

Viacom climbed 4.2 per cent as results beat projections.

Cisco Systems climbed 2.6 per cent to pace gains among technology shares.

DreamWorks Animation soared 15 per cent after people briefed on the matter said Hasbro was in talks to acquire the company.

Exxon Mobil paced losses in energy shares as crude oil slid to a three-year low in New York.

Helmerich and Payne, a contract driller, slipped 7.3 per cent to $79.29 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. – Additional reporting Bloomberg, Reuters