Irish market up as Ryanair maintains altitude

Earnings dominated markets across the globe yesterday, leaving European stocks little changed amid mixed results. In the US, markets rose after better-than-estimated earnings from Amgen and Expedia.

DUBLIN

The Irish market outperformed many of its European peers yesterday, as Ryanair continued to fly high. The Iseq rose by 1.1 per cent, adding 68.27 points to climb to 6,517.84.

Markets reacted positively to half-year results from Bank of Ireland, which reported pre-tax profit of € 725 million for the first six months of the year. The stock rose by 1.3 per cent to €0.38 on decent volume.

Permanent TSB, which had its own results out earlier in the week, was also on the rise yesterday, advancing by 32 cent, or 6.5 per cent, to €5.27.

New entrant Applegreen was also strong, adding 19 cent to climb by 4.2 per cent to €4.69.

Ryanair continued its run of form following its results on Monday. It added 10 cent, or 0.8 per cent, to finish the day up at €12.46.

It was a tumultuous day for FBD, as chief executive Andrew Langford said he would step down. The news from the insurance group sent its stock plummeting, as it dropped 10.8 per cent or 93 cent, to slide back to €7.65.

Smurfit Kappa was also slightly weaker on the day, giving up 10 cent, or 0.4 per cent, to fall back to €27.40, while as one broker noted, there were more sellers than buyers" around for property investment company Green Reit. It declined by 2 cent or 1.2 per cent to close down at €1.53.

LONDON

Britain’s top equity index gained ground for the fourth day in a row on Friday, lifted by a rise in the shares of engine maker Rolls-Royce and cruise ship company Carnival. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.4 per cent at 6,696.28 points.

The FTSE is now up around 2 per cent since the start of 2015 but some 6 per cent below a record high of 7,122.74 points set in April.

Rolls-Royce rose 5.9 per cent, the best-performing FTSE 100 stock in percentage terms, after ValueAct Capital Master Fund took a stake of around 5 per cent. Carnival also climbed 5.2 per cent after its rival Royal Caribbean increased its annual profit forecast.

ITV rose 3.4 per cent after cable operator Liberty Global increased its stake to 9.9 per cent but said it still had no intention of taking it over.

EUROPE

European stocks were little changed after a three-day rally, posting their biggest monthly rally since February. Miners and energy companies fell as commodities headed for their biggest monthly plunge since 2011.

In Paris, the CAC 40 closed up 36.2 points at 5082.6, while in Frankfurt the DAX was also ahead. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained less than 0.1 per cent to 396.34.

Spain's CaixaBank dropped 2.2 per cent after cutting its net interest income growth forecast for 2015. BNP Paribas climbed 3 per cent as France's largest bank swung to its biggest quarterly profit in more than three years.

NEW YORK

Stocks rose after better-than- estimated earnings from Amgen and Expedia amid speculation that slow wage growth will temper Federal Reserve plans for higher interest rates.

Amgen led healthcare shares companies higher, rising 3.9 per cent to a record after posting second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates.

Coca-Cola Enterprises, an independent bottler of Coke products in Europe, surged 13 per cent to a record after the Wall Street Journal said it was considering a merger.

LinkedIn tumbled 9 per cent amid concerns growth was slowing in its main business. The company attributed a bump in its annual revenue forecast to its acquisition of education website Lynda.com. – (Additional reporting Reuters/Bloomberg)