Iseq outperforms European peers

A quiet end to a quiet week is how one trader described today’s session. The ISEQ ended the week in the black in line with other European markets which closed higher on the back of better-than-expected US retail sales figures for November.

The ISEQ managed to outperform its European peers, however, advancing 1.8 per cent on the day.

Solid advances by construction company CRH and budget airline Ryanair - the two largest constituents on the ISEQ - ensured that the Dublin market ended the day in positive territory.

The two main financials were weak on the day in line with the general sell-off in bank shares across Europe this week, due to fears about the health of the public finances of countries such as Greece and Spain. Bank of Ireland shed 2 per cent, while AIB was down 3 per cent, although traders noted that AIB saw slightly more investor activity. Irish Life & Permanent bucked the trend, advancing solidly throughout the day to finish 3 per cent higher at €3.25, a gain of 10 cent.

Another stock which saw significant investor interest was Dragon Oil, as shareholders voted to reject the takeover bid by ENOC. The stock lost 3 cent on the day to finish at €4.29.

DCC put in a good performance, finishing 4 per cent higher to close at €19.25 on the back of positive half-year results from British music retailer HMV- a customer of DCC's SerCom division.

Pensions and investments group IFG gained 11 per cent, with the stock continuing to find favour with investors following its announcement earlier in the week that is to acquire British pensions company James Hay Holdings from Santander Private Banking in a £35 million (€38.5 million) cash deal.

The main European markets also ended the week in positive territory, with gains in mining stocks offsetting losses in financials. The FTSE 100 closed 17.2 points higher at 5,261.57, extending yesterday's gains when the index closed up 0.8 percent. However, the index is lower by 60.79 points since last Friday.

In Paris the CAC was up marginally at 3,804, while the Frankfurt DAX advanced just under 1 per cent to close at 5,756.

US stocks rose this morning on better-than-expected retail sales last month and stronger consumer sentiment in early December. Although the two main indices fell back slightly throughout the morning, by mid-afternoon both the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones were higher at 2,195 and 10,466 respectively.