Pressures ease on markets amid falling gas prices

A slide in gas prices and Britain’s economic policy U-turns eased some of the pressures on shares on Tuesday.

DUBLIN

Shares in packaging giant Smurfit Kappa climbed 5.61 per cent to €32.93 on Tuesday as natural gas prices eased on news that European stocks are building and the EU will bid to curb spikes in the fuel’s cost this winter.

Building materials multinational CRH added 1.63 per cent to close at €34.27, with dealers suggesting the same news benefited the Irish group. Both stocks also outperformed in London on Tuesday.

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Among other stocks, traders said the Republic’s two biggest banks lost ground while European lenders made decent gains on the day.

AIB slipped 3.72 per cent to €2.84 while Bank of Ireland shed 1.76 per cent to €7.58. Traders argued on Tuesday that the Irish financials had outperformed European peers over the previous five days, so the slide in their shares simply brought them back in line.

“They have been racing ahead lately, they just gave a bit back today,” said one market participant.

Wind farm investor Greencoat Renewables fell 2.21 per cent to close at €1.105.

LONDON

The FTSE 100 jumped to an 11-day high on Tuesday amid reports that British prime minister Liz Truss was battling to hold her post.

London’s benchmark index jumped by around 1.4 per cent in the afternoon, surpassing the 7,000 mark for the first time in several days.

But it slipped back down later as it became clear that the Bank of England would not be delaying its plans to start selling UK government bonds again. The FTSE 100 closed 16.5 points higher, or 0.24 per cent at 6,936.74.

Gambling giant 888 said that it was making “rapid progress” integrating the William Hill operations that it bought for £1.95 billion (€2.24 billion) earlier this year.

But the firm revealed that its sales had fallen over the past three months as stricter online safety measures took affect. Shares in 888 were up 1.3 per cent at 91.40 pence sterling.

Moneysupermarket jumped 5.3 per cent to 209.2p after the insurance-price comparison website said it expected annual core profit to be at the upper end of market views.

The FTSE 100′s biggest risers included Irish giants Smurfit Kappa Group, up 6.36 per cent to 2,845p and CRH up 2.8 per cent at 2,979p; as well as Rolls-Royce Holdings, up 3.79 per cent to 74.28p, DS Smith, up 3.75 per cent to 285p, United Utilities Group, up 3.16 per cent to 920p.

EUROPE

Reports named Anglo Dutch oil giant Shell as one of several companies joining a second bidding round to acquire Danish biogas producer Nature Energy, for around $2 billion. Its shares closed 0.495 per cent down at €25.90.

Shares in Swiss building materials multinational Holcim closed 2.83 per cent up at 42.82 Swiss francs. The cement maker said it supported a settlement made by Lafarge with the US department of justice.

A financial penalty of $778 million (€789.7 billion) and a plea agreement have been arranged to resolve the department of justice inquiry into Lafarge, which became part of Holcim following the companies’ 2015 merger. The inquiry focused on Lafarge’s funding of Islamic State to allow it to keep a cement plant running in Syria. Holcim pointed out that it had never had operations in Syria.

US

US stocks pared early gains on Tuesday afternoon amid signs of weakening investor sentiment. The S&P 500 pulled back from session highs as energy stocks declined with a slump in oil prices and rising Treasury yields weighed on growth stocks. The Nasdaq 100 swung between gains and losses amid weakness in big tech names including Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. jumped the most intraday since July following better-than-expected third-quarter results.

The dollar ticked higher, while Treasury rose across the board. – Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters