European Defense, Energy Stocks Rise, Airlines Slide After Attack on Israel

By Pierre Bertrand

European defense and energy stocks rose Monday, while airline stocks fell after the surprise attack by Hamas on southern Israel over the weekend.

As of 0936 GMT, Italian defense company Leonardo traded 6% higher and Germany's Rheinmetall climbed 5.4%, while France's Dassault Aviation rose 4.9% and Thales went up 4.6%.

In London, BAE Systems shares rose 4%.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index inched 0.2% higher, having fallen in earlier trade.

The attack sparked an increase in oil prices, sending energy company shares higher.

Shares in Portugal's Galp rose 3.5% while Spain's Repsol saw shares go up by 2.5%.

Shares in BP in London similarly increased 2.5% and shares of Shell were up 2.4% as of 0938 GMT.

In Italy, Eni shares traded 2.1% higher while at 0946 GMT France's TotalEnergies was 1.8% higher.

The violence, which saw fighting across several communities in southern Israel and a second night of air strikes by Israeli forces into Gaza, led to the cancellation of several flights by European carriers into the country and a retreat of European airline shares.

Air France-KLM shares fell 3.6%, while at 0938 GMT, British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group shares dropped 3.4%. Ryanair shares also traded down 1.8% while Germany's Lufthansa ticked 2.8% lower.

Write to Pierre Bertrand at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 09, 2023 06:18 ET (10:18 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.