On Wednesday, European equities moved upwards, notably with major player ASML seeing a spike following news that the Dutch semiconductor equipment firm could be exempt from fresh US legislation on overseas chip equipment exports. Good company earnings reports also played a part in bolstering the stock market.
Simultaneously, the Federal Reserve is set to finish up its two-day policy assembly later today. The expectation is that the Central Bank in the US will lay the groundwork for an interest rate cut this coming September.
DUBLIN
In the Dublin market, the Iseq index saw a 0.6% upturn, largely driven by a strong performance from Kerry. This food company experienced a 6.4% surge to €86.40, despite decreased revenues due to weaker pricing affecting its Irish dairy and taste and nutrition enterprises. Kerry has said that after its current scheme finishes, it plans to initiate another share buyback programme; in the first six months of the year, it purchased €279 million worth of its shares.
The story was positive for Kingspan too, gaining 0.5% and ending the day at €86.40. Bank of Ireland also ended positively, with an increase of 0.6% at €10.48. This was not true for all companies; Ryanair dropped by 2.2% to €14.64 and AIB fell 1.1% to now stand at €5.30.
LONDON
July ended on a high note for stocks, thanks to an uplift in mining and energy stocks and favourable corporate news. Investors are also holding their breath for an impending decision from the Bank of England due this Thursday, and the Federal Reserve in the US.
The FTSE 100 blue-chip index saw gains of 1.1%, its best performance since April, while the FTSE 250 index added 0.8%, achieving its finest month of the year so far. Energy shares saw a 2.3% lift, more than recovering from the previous day’s losses. Big oil companies saw increases with both BP and Shell gaining over 1.6% and 2.7% respectively as oil prices began to increase again.
London-based bank HSBC saw their shares increase 4% after the institution committed to a $3bn share buyback and reported a first-half profit that exceeded expectations.
EUROPE
The Stoxx 600 pan-European index marked an uptick of 0.8%, hitting a two-week high sometime during the session and recording a monthly increase of more than 1%. The tech industry made the most strides across the principal Stoxx sectors, escalating 2.6%, with a notable 5.6% surge for ASML after a Reuters news piece indicated it might be exempt from many possible new US export restrictions to China. The aerospace industry demonstrated a 1.3% growth, with Airbus, the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer, skyrocketing 4.8% after announcing Q2 results that surpassed predictions.
In contrast, Spain’s primary equity index went against the flow, witnessing a 1.2% drop. BBVA, a Spanish bank, reported slow net profit growth in its core Mexican market for Q2, which cast a shadow over a 38% YoY overall profit surge exceeding market forecasts. The bank’s shares dipped over 4%, given it will not purchase additional shares until its Sabadell competitor bid is concluded.
On the other side of the Atlantic, both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 experienced a surge exceeding 1% in the early trading stage, prompted by a positive prognosis from AMD, revitalising ailing chip stocks. Meanwhile, Microsoft struggled. Advanced Micro Devices boosted 10.1% post-adjusting its 2024 AI-chip sales forecast, which spurred a 10.2% rise for Nvidia. Microsoft however, dipped 1.6% due to its plans to escalate spending in the current fiscal year to bolster its AI infrastructure, despite a deceleration in its cloud business growth. This indicates that the returns from substantial investments in the technology might take longer to materialise than initially hoped. This information has been gathered additionally by Reuters.