Financials do serious business to lift the market

Market Report: The Irish Stock Exchange ended the week on a high note, lifted almost 1 per cent by the financials and pharmaceutical group Elan.

Waterford Wedgwood was, by far, the busiest stock of the day, accounting for 60 per cent of the Dublin markets business by volume, with more than 23 million shares changing hands.

Having surrendered a third of its remaining value on the back of yet another profit warning at its annual meeting on Thursday, the luxury goods group recovered 12.6 per cent or a fraction over one cent to 9.8 cents yesterday.

However, most of the serious business of the day was in the financials, with Bank of Ireland returning to reasonable volumes as it closed 12 cents or 1.13 per cent higher on €10.77, having hit €10.79 earlier.

AIB was also just over 1 per cent stronger, adding 14 cents to €13.81. Irish Life & Permanent joined its larger rivals in positive territory, finishing the session a cent ahead on €13.01 though Anglo Irish Bank failed to hold on to mid-session gains, closing 10 cents off at €15.20.

Elsewhere, Ryanair had a relatively busy day amid strongly denied rumours of interest in rival EasyJet. After the session during which the Irish airline lost one cent to €3.73 with four million shares traded ended, it emerged that Icelandair had swooped for an 8.4 per cent stake in EasyJet, which shot up over 16 per cent on the day.

Elan played catch-up on New York's overnight activity. The stock closed €1.24, or 6.6 per cent stronger on €19.95 as Merrion analyst Mr Robert Brisbourne issued an upbeat note about the prospects for Antegren, which is hoping for FDA approval by the end of next month.

Elsewhere business was fairly light as Grafton recovered some of the its recent lost ground to close on €7.37, up 12 cents. Fyffes, which closed unchanged on €1.88, again saw some interest and dealers say it now seems comfortable at levels around the high €1.80s as does Independent News & Media above €2.20.

Settlement Day: October 27th