The stock index worldwide dipped fractionally on Tuesday, concurrently with a rise in Treasury yields, as market players held their breath for forthcoming inflation figures, which could provide insight into future US interest rate scenarios.
In Dublin, Euronext closed 30 basis points lower in what proved a restrained trading day. Renewable energy firm Corre Energy witnessed a 7% increase in value after initiating a shares sale to current investors, potentially avoiding their stakes’ dilution due to a €2.12 million stock placement with the founding members and a long-standing investor.
Although it was a relatively low-key trading day, there was some activity in the banking segment as AIB elevated by 30 basis points, while Bank of Ireland decreased by 5.
Ryanair, the budget airline used the day to remain steady. While some interest persisted post-results and the roadshow, the day ended rather quietly, according to a trader. Kingspan, the insulation-specialising entity had a 1.6% downslide as the market day ended, which didn’t deviate from the sector trend. Packaging company Smurfit Kappa observed strong trading volumes and concluded the day 16 basis points higher.
In London, the city’s stock markets encountered difficulty in making headway due to losses experienced by gambling majors, dragging the FTSE 100 down. The premier index declined by 0.76% by market close. Flutter Entertainment and Entain saw steep declines, with Paddy Power Betfair’s proprietor Flutter transitioning its predominant listing to its US counterpart. Flutter seems set for increased taxes on sports betting in the United States, following the passing of a new regulation in Illinois.
However, these losses were only partly counterbalanced by profit increases for some retailers, such as JD Sports and Ocado, following data indicating that UK shop price inflation had stabilised. The British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index revealed that shop prices in May were 0.6% higher than the previous year, marking the lowest growth since November 2021. However, experts remain uncertain regarding the reasons for the recent surge in Ocado’s share price, which rallied by nearly 10% on Tuesday.
There has been a slight dip in Persimmon’s share price due to conjecture about their potentially making a £1 billion acquisition bid for Cala Group. However, investors appeared to be somewhat indifferent about the anticipated deal, which negatively impacted the share price by 3 per cent at the close of trading.
Meanwhile, fashion retail company Boohoo experienced a decline in its shares after announcing their retraction of plans to allot a £1 million annual bonus to each of their leading executives. Owing to pressure from shareholders as reported, the executive directors chose to forgo their bonuses, which led to a 0.6 per cent drop in the share price at close.
Looking at the bigger picture, major stock markets in Europe showed frailty. Germany’s leading stock index Dax finished 0.48 per cent lower, with France’s Cac 40 ending the day with a 0.92 per cent decrease. MSCI’s index of global shares fell by 0.15 per cent, and Europe’s Stoxx 600 index suffered a 0.72 per cent loss.
Over in New York, the Nasdaq broke the 17,000 mark for the first time due to Nvidia’s impressive surge to a record high. The success of this AI giant also boosted other chip stocks, evidenced by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index’s 1.7 per cent rise as trading resumed after an extended holiday weekend.
However, healthcare and financial stocks weighed down the Dow, creating an imbalance in relation to other indexes. An 8 per cent decrease in Moderna’s shares considerably impacted the S&P 500, making the healthcare sector the largest loss-distributing subsector.
The prospect of the world’s top central bank initiating interest rate reductions this year has stimulated a record-setting surge on Wall Street since late 2023. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed their fifth consecutive week of gains on Friday.