Cautious celebrations as Iseq inches up

Dublin report Laura SlatteryAfter a setback on Monday, the Dublin market managed to finish in positive territory yesterday, with morning traders taking heart from a late surge in US shares on Monday evening.

But although the Iseq index of Irish shares closed up more than 1 per cent, two of the major banking stocks could not manage to join in the cautious celebrations: AIB fell 1.1 per cent and Anglo Irish Bank dropped almost as much. AIB closed at €15.10, down 17 cent, with Anglo losing 10 cent to close at €9.35, both on average trading volumes.

Bank of Ireland, however, was brighter and livelier, and closed up 12 cent at €9.97, a climb of 1.2 per cent. Staying in the banking sector, Irish Life & Permanent had an even perkier day, outperforming the market to close up 3 per cent at €10.80, a rise of 32 cent.

Fruit distribution group Total Produce was the day's highest climber in percentage terms, finishing up 5.7 per cent at €0.55, but fellow Fyffes spin-off, property group Blackrock, was one of the biggest fallers, dipping almost 3 per cent to €0.33.

This was just a fall of 1 cent, however, and came on a day when the company released unsurprising preliminary results for 2007 and said that it held a 50 per cent stake in a joint venture consortium that has been selected as the preferred bidder for the redevelopment of Dublin's fruit markets. Fyffes itself fell 2 cent to €0.92.

Paddy Power had a good day, shooting up 94 cent to close at €18.97, a gain of more than 5 per cent.

Despite oil prices, Ryanair also managed to outperform the market, reversing a good chunk of its losses on Monday to finish up 11 cent at €3.86.

Helped by the continued pressure on oil prices, Tullow Oil added 14 cent to close at €7.64.