Monday saw progress in European stocks, with traders keenly observing the French parliamentary elections taking place later in the week.
In Dublin, the Irish share index concluded the day on a high note, seeing a near 0.3 per cent increase as a result of gains in bank and food stocks. AIB shares concluded the day 0.4 per cent up. Bank of Ireland and PTSB also saw gains of almost 2 per cent and 0.75 per cent respectively. Ryanair increased its share price by 0.67 per cent, while Irish Continental Group, a ferry company, saw a 0.7 per cent gain. Both Glanbia and Kerry enhanced their stock prices by 0.16 and 0.33 per cent respectively. However, Smurfit Kappa and Kingspan saw a decrease in their shares by 0.67 per cent and 0.37 per cent respectively, with Kingspan closing at €80.20.
Meanwhile in London, the FTSE 100 blue-chip index recorded a 0.5 per cent increase, hitting a three-week peak and breaching the 8,300 point barrier at one point during the day. The FTSE 250 Mid-cap index also experienced a 0.6 per cent uptick. The life insurance sector was buoyed by Prudential after it unveiled a $2 billion buyback plan, causing a surge in shares by 7.3 per cent. Britain’s soft drink producer Britvic saw its shares hike by 7.1 per cent following an agreement by PepsiCo to forego a change of control clause in its bottling relations with Britvic. This could potentially open the door for Carlsberg to make an increased offer for Britvic.
In the wider European setting, the STOXX 600, which includes companies across Europe, finished 0.7 per cent higher, just shy of a near 2-week peak hit earlier in the day. Bank stocks lead the sector gains rising by 1.7 per cent. Notable increases were observed in Italian banks like BPER, UniCredit and Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which climbed between 3.8 and 4.9 per cent.
Car manufacturers saw a 1.5% increase as agreements for discussions were made between China and the European Union with regards to potential tariffs on electric vehicles produced in China. Looking towards the upcoming French parliamentary elections this week, polls suggest that the far-right National Rally party and their allies are leading. While former analyses pointed to fears about potential reckless spending by a far-right government, the perspective shifted on Monday, analysts have said. France’s main index experienced a 1% incline at Monday’s closing.
Furthermore, Hochtief, a German construction company, made a close to 10% increase as Jefferies shifted their rating from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, attributing the leap to the company’s increased involvement in high-tech infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, Belgian medicinal company Argenx saw a 9% surge after an announcement that the US FDA had approved Vyvgart Hytrulo, a therapy for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.
Moving to New York, the leading Dow index reached a one-month peak in a widespread rally on Monday. This followed a shift in investments away from AI-related shares and the anticipation of a key inflation report due out later in the week to refine predictions about interest rate reductions scheduled for this year. The S&P 500 remained steady around the 5,475 mark on Monday, while the Nasdaq 100 lagged behind the main benchmarks after nearly reaching the 20,000 milestone last week.
Nvidia experienced a decrease of 4.9%, marking its third day on the decline. Many link this downturn to the market’s profit-taking actions in response to the semiconductor forerunner and similar AI shares seeing a significant rise, elevating it to the most valuable company last week. Other semiconductor shares, including the US shares from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Broadcom, Marvell Technology, and Qualcomm, saw drops in the range of 2%-5%, causing the semiconductor shares index to tumble 1.7%. Out of all 11 sector indexes of the S&P 500, technology was the only one to fall, touching a near two-week low.