European shares climb as banks and defence stocks lead rally

European shares climbed more than 1 per cent with gains broadening across sectors, while banks advanced as dealmaking involving Credit ​Agricole and Banco BPM and strong results from Italy’s UniCredit lifted the sector.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 1.26 per cent higher at 656.52 points, with the defence sector leading sectors higher with a 4.2 per cent rise.

Dublin

Shares in Ires Reit jumped nearly 5 per cent to €1.36 after the board of the State’s largest private landlord accepted an all-cash offer of €731 million from UK investment firm Barings Investment for the company.

Shares in Kingspan also traded up at €95.45 after the building materials group said sales rose 10 per cent to €7.6 billion in the first nine months of the year. The Cavan-based multinational, led by Gene Murtagh, forecast it would deliver a full-year trading profit in the region of €1.15 billion.

Iseq heavyweight Ryanair traded up nearly 3 per cent at €26.42 as oil prices dropped.

Europe

The Euro Stoxx banking index soared 3.1 per cent. Banco BPM jumped 10.7 per cent after Credit Agricole said ​it had proposed that its Italian subsidiary merge with the Italian lender to create a combined entity that would become the country’s third-largest bank. ⁠The French bank’s shares inched lower.

UniCredit gained 6.3 per cent after posting a much larger than forecast 24 per cent annual rise in third-quarter ‌earnings and ‌hiking ​its full-year profit goal, as it prepares to shape strategy at Commerzbank. The German lender was up 3.9 per cent.

“European banks have benefited in the early quarters of this year from the ⁠AI expansion. The AI productivity gains have ​been quite strong, but the financing also helped keep the ​bank earnings quite strongly along with higher trading revenues,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Among ‌other movers, Hochtief fell 1.3 per cent after majority shareholder ACS said it had not considered launching a takeover bid for the German construction group.

Luxury ​stocks were among the few weak spots on Monday, down 0.7 per cent. Data showed that ​consumer demand in China, a key importer of European luxury products, was weak in October.

London

Britain’s FTSE 100 closed more ‌than 1 per cent higher on Monday as lower oil prices helped ease inflation worries and rising gold ‌prices lifted the stocks of precious metal miners, while investors assessed the UK’s latest jobs report.

The blue-chip ​FTSE 100 index rose 1.02 per cent to 10,782 points.

Precious metal miners rose 4.5 per cent, tracking higher gold prices, with Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Anglo American among ​the benchmark index’s top gainers.

⁠On the data front, Britain’s ⁠jobs market cooled ​in October, but starting salaries for permanent jobs rose at a faster pace, according to a survey of recruiters published on Monday.

Among individual stocks, Kainos Group fell 12.4 per cent and was the worst performer on the midcap index after the IT software ‌provider kept its H2 guidance unchanged.

London-listed shares of Georgia’s TBC Bank rose 9.8 per cent and ​it was the best performer on the midcap index ​after the firm posted a higher third-quarter net profit on Friday.

New York

Wall Street’s main indexes rebounded on Monday as ‌a drop in oil prices soothed investor nerves after last week’s sell-off, even as AI heavyweight Nvidia hit a seven-month low following the controversy surrounding chief executive ​Jensen Huang.

[ Nvidia investigating reports boss Jensen Huang had affair with Chinese ‘spy’Opens in new window ]

The strong gains allayed concerns about the AI trade, which shook markets following the Democrats’ midterm triumph last week. Ten of 11 large S&P 500 sector indexes were in positive territory, with industrials and consumer discretionary leading gains.

US president Donald Trump downplayed the likelihood of renewed strikes on Iran, sending crude prices ​lower and easing inflation concerns.

Nvidia, the second most valuable company ​in the world, fell 6.2 per cent to its lowest since April after ​an internal investigation into whether chief executive Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort raised questions about his future at the AI ‌chipmaker.

Chipmakers were up, with Marvell Technology and Broadcom rising 9 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, while Intel and Qualcomm gained over 4 per cent each.

Among the hyperscalers, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon were up between 2 per cent and 5 per cent.

Elon Musk-led Tesla and SpaceX also advanced 5.5 per cent each. – Additional reporting by Reuters