Ryanair rises despite wider market's weak condition

DUBLIN REPORT Iseq: 2,758.05 (-12.62) Settlement date: July 31st

BUDGET airline Ryanair again provided the Irish market with direction yesterday.

On Monday, the airline stock plummeted 9 per cent after its cautious full-year guidance spooked investors. The stock regained ground yesterday, jumping 5.5 per cent – or 17 cent – to €3.25.

However, brokers pointed out that this closing price did not reflect the reality of its performance, as the stock traded at around €3.19 for much of the day, which would represent a more modest gain of about 3 per cent.

The main driving force behind its rebound was its strong performance in the US on Monday after European markets closed, which indicated that US investors thought the sell-off here was overdone.

Its upgrade from “hold” to “buy” by Citigroup also helped the stock.

Meanwhile, the positive announcement on Monday that it has offered to buy back some of its long-term debt failed to bolster cement giant CRH yesterday. The stock slipped almost 3 per cent – or 50 cent – to €16.75.

The wider market was weaker on the day, with the Iseq finishing down roughly half a per cent at 2,758.05. This compares to an average fall of just over one per cent across European markets.

Irish financials were pretty static, with AIB down less than one per cent at €1.70, and Bank of Ireland up one per cent at €1.77.

Irish Life & Permanent was off 6 cent at €3.06.

Brokers reported that volumes in the banks were light. For example, the volume of AIB shares traded was only 20 per cent of the three-month average level. A lack of stock specific newsflow outside of Ryanair meant that there was little movement of note in the rest of the market.

Cider manufacturer C&C was off more than 2 per cent on the day at just under €2.05.