European shares wobble on hangover from central bankers’ hawkish comments

European markets fell for a fourth consecutive day yesterday

as investors remained rattled by hawkish remarks from central bankers earlier this week.

DUBLIN The Irish market outperformed Europe although traders acknowledged

it was a quiet day.

Newly-floated AIB continued to gain ground, adding 2.06 per cent to close at €4.95. More than 11.9 million of its shares changed hands in Dublin on Friday. Bank of Ireland ticked up 0.44 per cent to 23 cent. Home lender Permanent TSB fell 2.93 per cent to €2.75.

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Building materials giant and index heavyweight, CRH, fell 1.17 per cent to €30.975. More than 1.69 million of its equities sold in Dublin. Dealers said that sentiment was generally poor towards its industry, with a number of European peers also falling. However, insulation specialist, Kingspan, bucked the trend, gaining 1.37 per cent to close at €30.055.

Packaging group Smurfit Kappa added 1.04 per cent to end the day at €27.255.

Low-cost airline Ryanair closed 0.64 per cent up €17.96. Traders noted it rose as much as 1 per cent during the day as investors bought into the carrier after its stock fell earlier in the week. About 2.25 million of its shares were traded in Dublin.

Agri services business Origin Enterprises slid 1.95 per cent to end the day at €6.383.

LONDON Irish DIY and builders’ merchant Grafton dipped 0.7 per cent to 705 pence sterling as investors swerved construction-related stocks.

Resource stocks dragged down the blue-chip FTSE 100 while mid-caps, which are more domestically exposed, felt the brunt of investors turning against the UK economy and suffered their worst month since the Brexit vote.

Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP were down 1.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively, while miner Glencore also dropped 1.1 per cent. Another Irish-based company, Tullow Oil, whose main listing is in London, shed 2.02 per cent to close at 150.7 pence.

Retailers Marks & Spencer and Next were also prominent fallers. M&S fell 2.1 per cent to 333.3p while its rival was down 3 percent at 3,856p. A survey showed British consumer confidence hit its lowest since last July, immediately after the country voted to leave the EU.

Shares in newspaper publisher, Trinity Mirror, rose 3.3p to 98.3p as the firm announced it had secured a five-year print and distribution deal for the Guardian and Observer newspapers from early 2018.

EUROPE In Paris the Cac-40 index closed down 33.7 at 5120.7. The Eurotop 100 index was down 18.1 at 2921.3. Still, the Stoxx 600, which tracks leading stocks in 18 European markets, was heading for a gain of 5.2 per cent for the first half of the year.

Chemical giant Bayer fell 4.15 per cent after saying it plans to cut its sales and profit forecasts for this year because of unexpectedly high stockpiling in Brazil of its crop-protection products.

Sports clothes maker Adidas climbed 2.07 per cent to €167.75 after US rival Nike delivered a rosy forecast. Cement maker Heidelberg was off 0.53 per cent at €84.65.

NEW YORK Major US stock indexes

ended a volatile week on a modestly high note, boosted by Nike's well-received quarterly report, with the S&P 500 tallying its best first half of the year since 2013. Nike shares rose 11 percent after the world's largest footwear maker reported a quarterly profit that topped estimates and said it would launch a pilot online sales program with Amazon. com.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.6 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 21,349.63, the S&P 500 gained 3.71 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,423.41 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.93 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 6,140.42. Oil prices climbed for the seventh straight session in their longest bull run since April, but were still set for the worst first-half performance since 1998. (– Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters)