The ISEQ closed virtually unchanged yesterday following a lacklustre day of trading which, nevertheless, brought some cheer to AIB and Telecom Eireann shareholders who saw the value of their stock rise, albeit modestly, following mid-week dips.
The index rose by 0.12 per cent, largely on the strength of the buying interest in AIB which announced the completion of its €196 million (£154 million) alliance with Singapore's Keppel TatLee Bank.
The bank closed up 2.1 per cent, adding 25 cents to bring its price to €11.95 (£9.41), but well short of last Friday's closing price of €12.88 (£10.14). Dealers said much of the buying interest came from the retail sector, ordinary shareholders who saw value in the stock at less than €12.00 (£9.45) per share.
Telecom, which had less of a rollercoaster week, nudged up three cents yesterday, closing at €4.48 (£3.53), following Thursday's 32 cents drop in sectoral weakness. Good news for the sector in Europe was the upgraded rating Goldman Sachs gave to Deutsche Telekom following its acquisition of the British mobile phone operator, One20ne, from Cable & Wireless.
Bank of Ireland held its price at €8.70 (£6.85) and Anglo Irish was unchanged at €2.40 (£1.89), but Irish Life & Permanent finished a poor week's performance with a 10 cent rise to €9.60 (£7.56). Although much of yesterday's trading was concentrated on AIB and Telecom, Smurfit continued to perform well, adding another two cents and rising to €2.85 (£2.24), a new high for this year, but short of the all-time high of €3.53 (£2.78).
Clondalkin was up 12 cents at €6.12 (£4.82) while Oakhill, the newly-listed print and packaging company which was spun off from James Crean, was received well in the market, trading at 68 cents (54p).
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