ISEQ buoyed by positive US data

Positive economic data coming out of Asia and the US pushed the ISEQ up today, and it advanced by 40.61 points, or 1.5 per cent, to climb to 2,744.47.

"All cyclical stocks enjoyed a rally," noted one Dublin broker, as stocks advanced almost across the board.

Taking some of the pain out of its fall the other day, construction stock CRH climbed by 3.8 per cent, up by 47 cent to €12.75 on the back of strong US data, although analysts suggested it would have been higher had it not been for the fact that it went ex-dividend today.

Across the financials, Irish Life & Permanent was particularly strong, benefiting from talk of a possible link-up with EBS Building Society. It advanced by 10 cent, or 6.8 per cent, to close at € 1.55, while AIB was also positive on the day. It added 1 cent, or 1.3 per cent, to finish at € 0.78.

Weak on the day was Bank of Ireland, which fell by 1 cent, or 1.3 per cent, in heavy volumes to close down at € 0.76.

On the back of positive commentary in the market-place, Smurfit Kappa performed strongly, gaining 45 cent, or 6.7 per cent, to climb to € 7.20.

Airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus and were also strong, with Ryanair adding 12 cent, or 3.1 per cent to advance to € 3.95, and Aer Lingus gaining 2 cent, or 1.7 per cent to finish up at € 0.92.

Kinspan was another strong performer. It added 24 cent, or 4.4 per cent to finish the day up at ¤5.69.

Grafton Group enjoyed another strong day yesterday on the back of its positive results on Tuesday. It advanced by 14 cent, or 5.1 per cent, to increase to €2.83.

However, Kerry Group failed to consolidate on the bounce it received for its interim results on Tuesday, and was fairly flat yesterday, losing 12 cent, or 0.4 per cent, to close down at ¤25.80.

Failing to benefit from the upward surge on the day was Independent News & Media, which gave up 1 cent, or 2 per cent, to close at € 0.65, while food company Total Produce was also down. It lost 1 cent, or 1.4 per cent, to fall back to € 0.35. Also weak was Fyffes, which declined by 1 cent, or 1.5 per cent, to finish at € 0.34.

Across Europe, markets were up, with the FTSE 100 closing up by 141.19 points, or 2.7 percent in London. In Frankfurt, the DAX climbed 2.7 per cent, while in Paris the CAC 40 was up by 3.3 per cent.