After a jittery start to the new year, international equity markets regained some composure yesterday, helping the ISEQ to close almost 20 points higher.
Major European markets shrugged off worries over strong US non-farm payroll figures for December, with cyclical stocks finding favour with investors. Among leading European blue-chip indices, London's FTSE 100 was up 0.8 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX was up 3.9 per cent, and Paris's CAC-40 was up 1.5 per cent. In Dublin, the Irish equity market gained a more modest 0.4 per cent.
"The Irish market is steady, although it has not matched the strength internationally," one dealer said. Traders noted, however, that shares in Dublin had not been hit as hard as those in other European markets in recent days and consequently had less ground to recover.
Volume was again concentrated in the leading shares, such as AIB, Bank of Ireland, CRH and Smurfit.
Financial stocks were slightly firmer, with AIB closing 15 cents higher at €10.96 (£8.62). Bank of Ireland gained three cents to €7.65 (£6.02), while Irish Life & Permanent was unchanged at €9.45 (£7.44).
In the industrial sector, CRH firmed by 28 cents to €21.10 (£16.62) and Smurfit was up 11 cents at €3.12 (£2.46). But Eircom, which has suffered from the recent weakness in the international telecoms sector, lost a further five cents to €3.98 (£3.13). Independent News & Media also shed five cents to €6.20 (£4.88), while Greencore was off seven cents at €2.85 (£2.24).
The firmer tone on the Nasdaq fed through to Irish high-technology companies such as Iona, which was up by nearly 10 per cent, and Baltimore, which had firmed by more than 4 per cent by the close of business in Dublin.
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