Mining stocks lead continuing rallies

EUROPEAN stocks climbed the most in more than a week yesterday, led by a rally in mining companies, after the Federal Reserve signalled that US interest rates would remain low to support economic growth.

Speculation that China may release a stronger-than-forecast gross domestic product figures today also saw shares at miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in particular climb.

DUBLIN

THE ISEQ continued its recovery yesterday after a troubled start to the week.

Analysts noted while volumes were patchy, perhaps not surprising for the time of year, there was some money in play.

CRH, along with construction stocks across Europe had a good run, rising to close up 3.24 per cent at €15.29.

Grafton made gains on the rising tide too, closing up 2.27 per cent at €3.15 while Kingspan was up 2.71 per cent, closing at €7.57.

Materials companies across the board showed increases in anticipation of positive GDP data from China.

Kenmare had a strong day, up nearly 4 per cent, rebounding off some weakness on Wednesday to close at €0.59.

Glanbia continued to trade well. While volumes were low, the price was strong with the stock closing at €5.80, up 3.02 per cent.

Drinks company C&C underperformed the market, however, up just 0.27 per cent to close at €3.70, although this was at the higher end of where it had traded during the day.

Ryanair, along with several other airlines in Europe, rose, closing up 2.9 per cent at €4.43. Aer Lingus was up slightly, by 0.51 per cent, to close at €0.99.

Irish Continental gained €0.50 to close at €15.75.

LONDON

A LATE rally helped London’s leading shares index recover from Tuesday’s rout despite mixed signs about the health of the world’s biggest economy.

The FTSE 100 index had been trading down 0.5 per cent in early trading but a positive start on Wall Street dragged it out of the mire to close the day up 75.7 points, with banks and miners leading the surge.

Royal Dutch Shell dragged the market lower in early trading amid jitters over the discovery of traces of an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shares had been down more than 4 per cent but recovered to stand 0.5 per cent, or 11 pence lower at 2174 pence, after it said it was confident it was not a cause of the leak.

Other blue-chip resources stocks were on the front foot due to hopes China will today report strong GDP figures.

Rio Tinto was up 150.5p at 3487p and silver miner Fresnillo was ahead 47p at 1615p.

Banks, which had been sold heavily on Tuesday, benefited from the rally, with Barclays up 5 per cent, or 11.4p, at 223.5p, and Lloyds ahead 1.3p at 31.9p.

In the FTSE 250 Index, shares in recruitment firm Hays jumped 9 per cent after it surprised analysts with a strong third quarter performance. The shares were 7.3p higher at 88.5p.

EUROPE

THE STOXX Europe 600 Index rallied 1.2 per cent , the biggest gain since April 2nd. The gauge had retreated for three straight weeks amid mounting concern about the euro zone debt crisis and as a US report showed fewer new jobs in March than forecast.

National benchmark indexes advanced in 15 of the 18 western European markets.

Gerresheimer climbed 10 per cent to €35.35, the largest gain in three years, as the German maker of glass and plastic products for the health-care industry raised its forecast for the year.

Infineon Technologies jumped 5.8 per cent to €7.54. The stock was raised to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank, which said recent losses created an opportunity.

Banco Espirito Santo plunged 11 per cent to €1.04 after Portugal’s biggest publicly traded bank by market value announced plans to sell as much as €1.01 billion in stock to increase its capital ratios and buy out its partner in an insurance unit.

Nokia Oyj dropped 7.2 per cent to €3.04 as brokers reduced their recommendations on the shares.

US

STOCKS rallied yesterday, sending benchmark indexes to the biggest back-to-back gains of the year.

Hewlett-Packard surged 7.2 per cent, the most in three years, to lead gains in the Dow after research firm Gartner said the global PC industry unexpectedly grew in the first quarter.

Caterpillar, Alcoa, Boeing and Bank of America also rose at least 2.4 per cent to help lead the Dow up 1.4 percent.

Google gained 2.4 per cent before releasing first-quarter results after exchanges closed. The stock added another 0.4 per cent in extended trading as Google reported better-than-estimated adjusted earnings of $10.08 a share.

ATT rose 1.3 per cent as JPMorgan Chase advised buying the shares. McKesson jumped 3.9 per cent after winning a drug supply contract valued at as much as $31.6 billion over as many as eight years. – (Bloomberg)

DUBLIN

Iseq: 3,195.83 (+1.80%)
Settlement date: April 17th

ASIA
ShanghaiComp:2,350.08 (+1.79%)
Nikkei: 9,524.79 (+0.79%)
Hang Seng: 20,327.32 (+0.93%)

US
Dow Jones: 12,986.58 (+1.41%)
Nasdaq: 3,055.55 (+1.30%)
S&P 500: 1,387.57 (+1.38%)

EUROPE
Eurostoxx 50: 2,352.24 (+0.46%)
Paris CAC: 3,269.79 (+ 0.99%)
German DAX: 6743.24 (+1.03%)

LONDON
FTSE 100: 5,710.46 (+1.34%)
Mid-250: 11414.53 (+1.61%)
Small Cap: 3,108.70 (+0.98%)