Strong earnings reports help to lift European shares

Strong earnings reports from heavyweight companies combined with rising commodity prices to lift European shares to another record high on Wednesday.

DUBLIN

Airline Ryanair Holdings continued a strong run, sparked by first-half results on Monday, with a 1.65 per cent rise to €17.525 following trades totalling 3.8 million shares.

Dealers said news that Lufthansa had recorded a first profit since last year helped spur the Irish carrier's gains and benefited airlines overall.

Packaging group Smurfit Kappa's shares ended flat at €45.47 after the multinational reported earnings in the first nine months of the year rose 10 per cent to €1.24 billion. However, traders said that stock has been up for most of the day.

European stocks steady as investors anticipate Fed meeting

---

Amazon, Apple weigh on stocks as rate hike hopes underpin euro

---

European markets steady but Evergrande continues to weigh

---

Bank of Ireland stock picker Leona Nicholson stepping down

---

Shares in another index heavyweight, CRH, added 1.44 per cent to close at €43.11.

Hotelier Dalata stood out among smaller stocks after climbing 6.9 per cent to €4.035. The owner of the Clayton and Maldron hotel chains said it had secured a 12-month extension from its banks on the repayment dates for its €564 million debt. Dealers said the stock was "quite strong" on Wednesday. More than 1.5 million of its shares changed hands.

LONDON

Aer Lingus-owner International Consolidated Airlines Group climbed 4.22 per cent to 170.26 pence sterling on a day when positive news from Lufthansa helped boosted the industry.

Hungary's Wizz Air Holdings climbed 2.38 per cent to 4,817p. Easyjet was flat at 609.6p.

Cybersecurity firm Darktrace declined 5.1 per cent to 600p to hit a more than two-month low after British private-equity firm Vitruvian Partners said it had sold about 11 million ordinary shares in the company.

Trainline slid 7 per cent to 299.6p after it said lack of clarity on British government plans to transform rail transport created uncertainty for the railroad operator.

EUROPE

German airline Lufthansa soared 7 per cent to €6.31 after reporting a surprise €17 million profit for the three months ended September 30th. It was the carrier's first surplus since Covid-19 struck in March last year.

The move benefited other European airlines. Air France KLM inched 0.6 per cent up to €4.27.

Vestas, the world's largest maker of wind turbines, slumped 18.2 per cent to 18 Danish kroner after posting a lower-than-expected third-quarter operating profit and trimming its full-year profit forecast.

BMW inched up 1.5 per cent to €89.96 after the German automaker reported higher quarterly profit, but reiterated its warning on the global chip crunch.

French diagnostics specialist Biomerieux edged 0.1 per cent higher to €11.20 after Bloomberg reported that it was exploring a potential merger with Germany's Qiagen.

Gains in technology stocks powered France’s CAC 40 index to a record high of 6,955.1 points.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4 per cent to a record-high close of 481.22 points, with basic resources stocks leading gains. The sector added 0.9 per cent, recovering from a near one-month low.

NEW YORK

Wall Street wavered ahead of an expected announcement by US central bankers that they would begin easing their $120 billion a-month asset-purchase programme.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors fell, with energy and industrials declining the most. The banking sub-index was down 0.4 per cent.

T-Mobile US gained 5.5per cent to provide the biggest boost to the Nasdaq after the US wireless carrier beat third-quarter estimates for adding monthly bill paying phone subscribers.

Lyft surged 7.9 per cent after the ride-hailing firm reported an adjusted profit for the third quarter, while CVS Health Corp added 4.6 per cent after it said it expects 2022 adjusted profit to be in line with expectations.

Activision Blizzard tumbled 15 per cent to weigh the most on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq after the videogame publisher delayed the launch of two much-awaited titles, as its co-leader Jen Oneal decided to step down from her role. – Additional reporting: Reuters