Global markets slide as Middle East crisis weighs on sentiment

Global stocks broadly slipped on Tuesday while oil prices jumped after Iran appeared to have launched a missile attack against Israel.
At home, the Irish banks took a hit in Dublin as Euronext Dublin underperformed peer markets to sink 2.6 per cent.
Bank of Ireland and AIB were the main laggards on the day, down 6.7 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively. One trader suggested “rate sensitivity” could explain the drop as lowering inflation puts pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates.
“There didn’t seem to be anything in the budget that would explain that, but there was a sector note on European banks from Morgan Stanley that pointed the Irish banks out as being sensitive to rates,” she said.
“That is something we all know, but it did seem to put them on the radar. Spanish banks were quite weak as well.”
Overall, it was a “selling day” for the market, she added, with few stocks in the green, mainly due to geopolitical issues.
The sharp increase in oil prices may have affected budget airline Ryanair, one trader suggested, as it finished the day down 1.8 per cent.
Elsewhere, food company Glanbia was down 3.3 per cent at close of business as a number of sellers in that stock emerged.
Hotel group Dalata meanwhile finished down 1.6 per cent, while insulation-maker Kingspan – one of the biggest companies left on the Iseq – was down 1.3 per cent at the final bell.
The UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 rose 0.5 per cent, with gains primarily driven by the energy sector, as investors worried about escalating conflict in the Middle East. The more domestically-focused midcap FTSE 250 index lost 0.7 per cent.
An index of aerospace and defence stocks rose 1 per cent. On the other hand, the personal goods index slipped 3.6 per cent, weighed by a 4.1 per cent loss in Burberry after brokerages reduced their price target on the luxury retailer.
Among single movers, shares in Mulberry slipped 3.2 per cent after the luxury brand rejected sportswear retailer Frasers’ takeover proposal.
Greggs lost 5.8 per cent, despite maintaining its full-year outlook, as underlying sales growth slowed in the latest quarter.
On the Continent, Frankfurt’s Dax index fell 0.7 per cent, while the Cac 40 in Paris closed down 0.8 per cent.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.9 per cent, while the Stoxx 600 index fell 0.4 per cent.
Euro zone inflation data helped bonds rally there as it came in below the ECB’s 2 per cent target, boosting the case for speedier rate cuts than traders have been betting on.
Wall Street’s main indexes took a beating as the reports of escalating tensions in the Middle East made investors sell riskier assets, with the benchmark S&P 500 hitting its lowest in over a week.
A little while after markets had closed in Europe, the S&P 500 was trading down 0.86 per cent, while the Dow Jones was 0.27 per cent lower.
Defence stocks such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin jumped 4.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively, which helped a 1.3 per cent rise in the broader defence index. The Dow Jones Transport Average tracking airline stocks fell 1.3 per cent.
CBOE’s market volatility index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, jumped 3.46 points to a three-week high of 20.19, while the yield on benchmark Treasury bonds hit session lows.
Markets also monitored a port strike on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast halting the flow of about half the nation’s ocean shipping.
Retailers account for half of all container shipping volumes and shares of Costco, Walmart were down 1.3 per cent and flat, respectively. – Additional reporting: Agencies