Lower oil costs boost Ryanair and limit Iseq's losses to 1%

Iseq: 2,909.48 (-21.25) Settlement date: April 15th:A SHARP decline in oil prices yesterday boosted the fortunes of the Iseq's second largest stock Ryanair and helped the Dublin market to contain losses on another poor day for European stocks.

Ryanair advanced 2.38 per cent in Dublin, closing at €3.44, up eight cents, with volume of seven million shares between its Dublin and London listings. Aer Lingus also joined in, closing up 3.6 per cent at 74 cents.

The easing in oil prices came as Saudi Arabia decided to reverse a recent increase in production designed to offset loss of Libyan supplies. Goldman Sachs, a key commodity investor, also rattled sentiment by closing its long positions in a number of commodities, including crude oil.

It was a less buoyant day for AIB, which announced a loss of €10.4 billion as it published its full-year results for 2010. Although well-flagged, its numbers still managed to be worse than expected, according to one dealer. The stock shed three cents and closed at 22 cents, down 12 per cent.

Bank of Ireland, which publishes its results tomorrow, fell in sympathy with AIB, finishing down one cent at 25 cents. Irish Life Permanent managed to stave off further losses, climbing almost a full cent, but there was little real volume in the stock.

As a result of Ryanair’s climb, the Iseq’s loss on the day – shy of 1 per cent – was a better performance than the major European indices, with the FTSE, the French and German markets all closing down about 1.5 per cent. Building materials group CRH ended the day down 1.4 per cent at €15.97 on far from spectacular volume.

Apart from the airlines, it was the food sector that produced the winners, as investors moved to defensive stocks. Kerry rose 1.7 per cent to €26.75, Greencore gained 2.1 per cent to €1.20, drinks group CC closed broadly flat at €3.30 and Glanbia added a cent to €4.34.