Uncertainty reigns on global markets

Uncertainty reigned on global markets yesterday, as investors turned their attention to the closely run US presidential election, which will finally come to an end today.

Uncertainty reigned on global markets yesterday, as investors turned their attention to the closely run US presidential election, which will finally come to an end today.

Closer to home, the focus was Ryanair’s better than expected half-year results.

Dublin

After what was deemed to be a “very impressive” set of results by analysts, Ryanair soared as high as € 4.95 at one point, before closing up by 28 cent, or 6 per cent, at €4.83. The airline reported a 10 per cent bounce in first half profits, leading broker Davy to rate the airline as “outperform” and increase its price target on the stock to €5.50 from € 5.00.

Aer Lingus also got a boost on the back of Ryanair’s performance, adding 4 cent, or 3.3 per cent, to advance to €.1.09.

IFG Group gave further details on its € 37.3 million share buyback initiative yesterday, and its stock rose on the back of it. It added 3 cent, or 2.2 per cent to finish the day up at €1.43.

CRH was relatively strong on the day, adding 10 cent or 0.7 per cent to close up at €15.00.

According to brokers, there were some buyers around for drinks group C&C, as investors absorbed the details of its recent US acquisition. It advanced by 5 cent, or 1.4 per cent, to climb to €3.85.

Food group Glanbia continues to trade well, and it added 20 cent, or 2.7 per cent, to finish up at € 7.70.

Weaker on the day was the Kerry Group, which came off its recent highs to fall back by 25 cent, or 0.6 per cent, to close down at € 39.40.

London

UK stocks fell the most this month amid concern that Greece will struggle to obtain more aid and as HSBC reported profit that missed estimates.

The FTSE 100 slid by 29 points or 0.5 per cent to 5,839 as HSBC, Europe’s largest bank by value, retreated by 1.3 per cent after making a $800 million provision. It fell back to 617.7 pence as its third-quarter underlying pre-tax profit rose to $5 billion, missing the $5.6 billion median estimate made by analysts. The bank made the provision in addition to $700 million that it set aside in July for any fines after a Senate committee found it had given terrorists and drug cartels access to the US financial system.

Europe

European stocks dropped by the most in a week as CGGVeritas joined HSBC to report earnings that disappointed investors.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.6 per cent to 273.2, while in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1 per cent and in Frankfurt the DAX retreated by 0.5 per cent.

CGGVeritas, the world’s largest surveyor of oilfields, lost 3.2 per cent to €24.49 after the company reported third-quarter net profit of $48 million, missing analyst estimates for $68 million. The shares fell even as the company confirmed its 2012 targets.

Similarly, PostNL sank 10 per cent to €2.81 after the Dutch mail service company said full-year underlying cash operating income would be in the bottom half of a forecast of between €110 million ($140 million) and €160 million. The shares fell even as the company narrowed its third-quarter loss to €154 million.

US

US stocks were little changed yesterday, after last week’s advance in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, as Americans prepared to vote in the presidential election and investors stayed on the sidelines.

Apple rose 1.6 per cent to $585.78, after slumping 4.5 per cent last week as it sold three million units of its iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad during the debut weekend, saying demand for the smaller version of its tablet outstripped supply.

KBW added 6.8 per cent as Stifel Financial agreed to buy the boutique investment bank in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $575 million. (Additional reporting: Reuters/Bloomberg)