US market gives up its gains

A rebound that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 440 points disappeared in the final hours of trading, with investors giving in to trepidation over what will happen overnight in China amid the most volatile equity markets in four years.

European markets earlier got a boost from China’s second interest rate cut in two months. Monday’s dramatic fall was followed by a not-so-dramatic, although substantial, rally.

Stocks in emerging markets gained the most in almost two years, recovering from a seven-day sell-off, and Russia’s rouble led gains in currencies as China’s steps to stimulate the economy bolstered appetite for riskier assets.

DUBLIN

In Dublin, the Iseq index gaining 3.97 per cent, to close at 6,094.72. Among the strong performers was market heavyweight CRH, up 5.07 per cent to close at €24.77, and Bank of Ireland, which rose by 5.32 per cent to close at €0.34.

The star of the day was Kingspan, which produced a record set of results on Monday and which investors apparently decided had been oversold that afternoon. It closed at €21.75, a rise of 7.01 per cent. Ryanair jumped 5.23 per cent to close at €11.97. FBD, which lost a lot of value on Monday, continued to fall, closing at €5.35, a drop of 0.96 per cent.

LONDON

London’s FTSE 100 Index jumped 182.5 points to 6081.3, after Chinese interest rates were reduced by another 0.25 percentage points to 4.6 per cent following punishing falls in equities in recent days.

The market added about £47 billion back on to the value of the UK’s top 100 listed companies, after £74 billion was wiped off the index in the previous session. The top-flight lifted 3.09 per cent, its biggest one-day rise since September 7th, 2011, when it climbed by 3.14 per cent.

The pound was down a cent against the US dollar, at just under 1.57, after a raft of positive US economic data. Sterling was two cents up against the euro at just under 1.38. The move in China added to an early session bounce-back after shares worldwide plunged on Monday.

London-listed mining giants were badly hit, but their shares were recovering in the latest session. BHP Billiton was one of the biggest climbers, despite posting worse-than-expected annual results for the year to the end of June 30th. Underlying attributable profits fell 51.6 per cent to £4.1 billion and net profits crashed 86 per cent to £1.2 billion, the worst performance in more than a decade. Shares rose more than 5 per cent, or 53.5p, to 1,021p.

RSA Insurance rose by 4 per cent to 514.5p, after it said it would back a £5.6 billion takeover by Swiss rival Zurich following an offer at 550p a share.

EUROPE

Germany’s DAX Index rose 5.3 per cent after closing on Monday in a bear market. All western European markets rallied more than 1.3 per cent.

Syngenta AG jumped 5.8 per cent as people familiar with the situation said Monsanto Co has made an increased takeover offer to the Swiss pesticide producer. Royal DSM NV added 4 per cent after the Dutch maker of nutritional products said it will cut jobs.

NEW YORK

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index went from up 2.9 per cent to down 1.4 per cent, closing at 1,867.62 as most of the selling occurred after 2pm. “People are nervous about the potential volatility that could erupt or resurface in the market,” said Stephen Carl, principal at Williams Capital Group LP. “They’re not sure what’s going to happen overseas, and that uncertainty is winning out.”

The Fab Five – Facebook, Amazon, Google, Netflix and Apple– were among the strongest contributors to the early advance, each rising at least 2.6 per cent after erasing nearly $200 billion in market value in the previous three trading sessions. Every industry in the S&P 500 ended with losses, with the biggest in utilities, commodity shares and banks . – Additional reporting Press Association, Bloomberg