European shares closed in the green amid a global equity rebound after last week’s sell-off prompted by fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. Irish shares outperformed the regional trend.
The Iseq All-Share index ended the session up 1.08 per cent at 13,438.07, closing in on an all-time high.
The Irish index’s gains were on the back of a strong performance of many of its largest components such as Ryanair, which added 0.64 per cent, and food group Glanbia, which topped the index with a 1.73 per cent gain.
Insulation and building materials specialist Kingspan Group performed well, adding 1.62 per cent to reach a share price of €81.80. It was a strong day for the banks, with AIB recording a gain of 1.65 per cent and Bank of Ireland rising 1.38 per cent.
Not everyone was in the green, however. Among others, insurance group FBD Holdings fell 0.30 per cent and Ires Reit shed 0.74 per cent.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.2 per cent to 10,386.23 as pressure continued to mount on UK prime minister Keir Starmer, with the Scottish Labour leader calling for his resignation.
Miners led on Monday on the back of boosted gold prices. Antofagasta was up 6.6 per cent and Fresnillo gained 4.6 per cent.
NatWest led the laggers, down 6.0 per cent despite launching a £750 million (€861 million) share buyback. It also confirmed a £2.7 billion deal to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners, in its first big acquisition since returning to private ownership.
Chill Brands rose 22 per cent as the London-based consumer packaged goods distributor said demand for its Chill Connect platform continues to run in advance of supply.
Product-sales revenue averages more than 55 per cent month-on-month growth between October and January, with materially higher revenue streams.
The UK financial regulator plans to publish all trading data for London-listed shares, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Conduct Authority wants to tackle a “drastic underreporting” of market liquidity, which has led some companies to move their listings to the US.
The European benchmark added 0.69 per cent, with the tech sector feeling a resurgence on Monday.
STMicroelectronics was up 9.76 per cent after the French company said it was expanding its engagement with Amazon Web Services on compute infrastructure.
In a relief for Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which has been struggling in a highly competitive weight-loss market, US-based Hims & Hers said it will stop offering its low-cost GLP-1 pill.
The firm launched, then cancelled, a $49 (€41) copy of the Danish drugmaker’s weight-loss pill Wegovy following backlash from the US Food and Drug Administration. The Wegovy maker’s shares jumped 5.25 per cent.
A consortium led by holding firm Advent and FedEx has agreed to buy parcel locker company InPost in a $9.2 billion deal, sending shares of the Polish company up 13.53 per cent.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were ahead in mid-afternoon trading on Monday after a shaky start. The big-tech stocks were finding their footing after last week’s AI-sparked tech rout.
Software companies clawed back losses after a bruising week – in which fears that rapidly-progressing AI could intensify competition and squeeze margins – sent them tumbling. The S&P 500 Software Services index registered single-digit gains on the day, as ServiceNow’s gains were followed by Salesforce and CrowdStrike.
The Dow hit an intraday record high, after surpassing 50,000 points for the first time on Friday, supported by a rotation into other pockets of the market. The S&P 500 was just half a per cent shy of its all-time high recorded in January.
But caution lingered as investors were still uneasy over big tech’s ambitious capital expenditure plans. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft together are poised to spend around $650 billion in the race to dominate AI.
Among stock movers, Hims & Hers Health sank 24 per cent on the back of the Novo Nordisk suit for patent infringement. – Additional reporting, Reuters, PA