European stocks ended lower on Thursday, even as bank shares hit 14-month highs on strong quarterly earnings, as a rise in euro-zone bond yields saw investors lock in profits at near-record levels. Bank stocks were the best performers for the day, as Standard Chartered added another notch to a series of strong earnings reports this week, including those from HSBC and Santander. Both Bank of Ireland and AIB traded up but only moderately compared with some of their European peers. EuropeTravel and leisure stocks, the best-performing European sector this year, fell 0.7 per cent, coming off record highs. Shares of other high-flying stocks including Microsoft, Tesla and Amazon fell between 0.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent.

Source: The Irish Times April 29, 2021 17:48 UTC