ALLIED Irish Bank was the star of an otherwise dull Irish equity market, with the share going against the downward trend among the financials, boosted by the upgrading of its rating by Moody's. AIB shares dealt up 5p to 503p, while Bank of Ireland went the opposite direction, falling 9p to 744p in thin trading.
Elsewhere among the leaders, Smurfit was 1p firmer on 182p but the market seemed to be unaware of the major restructuring planned by JS Corp in North America, a restructuring which could see JS Corp sell Smurfit Newsprint for upwards of $650 million (£430 million) and its forests for $800 million. CRH was down more than 9p on 660p, but trading in the share was thin.
Elsewhere, DCC continued to move ahead, gaining 5p to 375p, while Avonmore was 4p higher on 244p. This values Avonmore's offer for Waterford at 122p per share, but the Waterford share remained becalmed on 95p, indicating that the market still believes that the offer is likely to be rejected.
The announcement that James Crean is redeeming the £32.2 million worth of convertibles came just after the market closed. But this restructuring together with the imminent sale of some of the non-core businesses should be welcomed by the market.
Greencore was 5p higher on 340p, Peterhead gained 7p to 75p, while Readymix was 6p lower on 145p.
The gilt market continued to weaken, affected by renewed uncertainty over the currency generated by the reports that Goldman Sachs will go negative on the currency in a forthcoming detailed analysis of EMU. Goldman has already told its clients that they should "short" the pound.
There were heavy 80p falls at the long end of the market where yields closed on 6.88 per cent while medium-dated gilts were 55p lower on 6.62 per cent.
