Market follows rising Wall Street, ignores Budget

Dublin Report: The Irish stock market closed higher, lifted by a rising Wall Street and falling oil prices, although volumes proved light.

The Budget the Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen, presented contained little of direct interest to the equity market although the decision to cut stamp duty on company formation and new share issues and the failure to raise excise duties will have been welcome.

The ISEQ closed 47 points or 0.8 per cent higher, a good performance given that a number of stocks, including Anglo Irish, Bank of Ireland, Eircom, Greencore and United Drug, went ex-dividend.

Ryanair was the star of the day as shares in the low-cost airline added 21 cents or more than 4 per cent to €5.30, helped by the drop in the oil price.

In the financial sector, AIB gained 25 cents to €14.87 and Irish Life & Permanent was up 15 cents to €13.15. Bank of Ireland lost just one cent to €11.47 and Anglo Irish Bank was down five cents to €17.00 although both stocks went ex-dividend yesterday.

Shares in Elan added 23 cents to €19.88 in Dublin as Goodbody Stockbrokers upgraded its forecasts for the company on the back of Tysabri's premium pricing and said Elan could command a valuation of as much as $42.90 per share.

Kerry Group was another good performer, adding 36 cents or more than 2 per cent to €17.65.

More than a million Kingspan shares were traded as the stock added 22 cents or more than 3 per cent to €6.95 while Independent News & Media edged up by two cents to €2.25.

C&C shares were unchanged at €2.80 as Bank of Ireland Asset Management announced it had cut its stake in the company by 0.5 per cent to 4.87 per cent following the disposal of 1.7 million shares.

Eircom gave up four cents, or more than 2 per cent, to €1.66 despite a note from Smith Barney repeating its "buy" recommendation and raising its share price target to €1.89 from €1.63.