US markets opened mostly higher on Monday on the back of continued optimism around chip stocks, while markets pulled back in Europe following record highs last week
As Wall Street re-opened strongly following a shortened-week due to independence day market closures, oil erased earlier losses amid an anticipated surge in supply.
While London markets saw a general decline, EasyJet soared 9.3 per cent on the FTSE 250 as it said it has reached an agreement in principle for a takeover by US private equity firm Castlelake after a new proposal valuing the firm at over £5.5 billion (€6.4 billion), driving travel and leisure stocks up by 0.4 per cent.
Dublin
A quiet day on the Irish markets saw the Iseq All-Share index marginally rise 0.15 per cent to 13,961.21.
While there were no big movers in the Irish market, EasyJet’s jump on the London Stock Exchange drove a consequential rise of 2.04 per cent for Ryanair.
Kerry Group was a little weaker coming into the week, down 1.73 per cent following sustained growth earlier in the session.
Insulation specialist Kingspan was also down by 1.1 per cent to €80.75.
Banking shares varied, as Bank of Ireland saw a rise of 1.39 per cent while AIB dropped by 0.53 per cent.
Home builders Glenveagh and Cairn both saw losses of 0.39 per cent and 1.37 per cent respectively.
London
London’s FTSE 100 ended lower on Monday as losses in precious metal miners and drugmakers including AstraZeneca weighed, while easyJet topped the midcap index after agreeing to a takeover offer.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.3 per cent to 10,651.8 points at close, while the midcap FTSE 250 slipped 0.2 per cent.
Precious metal miners fell 2.2 per cent after gold prices retreated from a two-week high, as the dollar ticked up in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting minutes due later this week.
Pharma and biotech fell 2.1 per cent, with heavyweights AstraZeneca and GSK losing 2.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
Among other stocks, Close Brothers fell 9.1 per cent after brokerage RBC downgraded its rating on the British lender to “sector perform” from “outperform”.
Europe
Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index pulled back after hitting a record high on Monday as investors cashed in on gains following a strong run.
The pan-European index slipped 0.35 per cent to 650.5 points at the close. It had hit an all-time peak of 654.44 points earlier in the session, after posting its strongest weekly performance since mid-May last week.
With declines of 1.81 per cent and 1.80 per cent, utilities and healthcare stocks were the biggest drags on the index. Food and beverage shares also fell 1.67 per cent.
Germany’s DAX index bucked the broader regional weakness, however, and inched up 0.15 per cent to a record high, notching up its fifth straight session of gains.
Ferrari advanced 2.22 per cent after the luxury race-car maker launched a limited-edition 12-cylinder model with a manual gearbox.
New York
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Monday, extending the previous week’s rally as chip stocks recovered while investors looked ahead to minutes from the central bank’s last meeting and the start of second-quarter earnings season later in the week.
The Dow briefly climbed to a new intraday record early in the session but later erased the gains.
Broadcom rose after the chipmaker and Apple agreed to expand their partnership through 2031 to develop and supply a range of custom chips.
The information technology sector led gains on the benchmark S&P 500, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index jumped after falling for two straight sessions.
Microsoft shares fell after the company said it is cutting about 2.1 per cent of its workforce, or roughly 4,800 jobs.
SpaceX saw gains as Elon Musk’s rocket and AI giant is set to join the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 on Tuesday. – Additional reporting: Reuters