Banks enjoy better day as market bounces back

Market Report:The Irish stock market bounced back yesterday, as the Iseq gained 90 points, or more than 1.4 per cent, after last week's woes.

It was helped by a strong performance in other European markets while Wall Street also opened strongly and held its gains as investors welcomed the appointment of Ben Bernanke as the next chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

However, dealers said that volume in Dublin remained light while there was also little stock specific news. "There was no frenzy to buy shares but several stocks were marked up," one trader said.

Among them were the banks, all of which closed higher after last week's battering. AIB added 26 cent, or 1.6 per cent, to €16.85, while Bank of Ireland was up by 26 cent, or 2 per cent, to €12.61.

Anglo Irish Bank closed 9 cent, or 0.8 per cent, higher at €11.04 while Irish Life & Permanent finished at €14.25, a gain of 19 cent or 1.35 per cent.

CRH also moved higher, adding 38 cent, or 1.9 per cent, to €20.75, while Ryanair added 13 cent, or 1.9 per cent, to €6.85 as oil prices moved lower and rival Easyjet performed strongly.

Leading second-line stocks also had a good day. Dealers reported good two-way trading in United Drug, which closed 7 cent, or 2.3 per cent, higher at €3.15.

Elsewhere in the pharmaceutical sector, Elan gained 27 cent, or 4 per cent, to €7.00 ahead of the release of third-quarter results this week. However, it also emerged that the FDA's decision on whether to grant priority status to its review of multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri may not now be known until the end of November.

In the food sector, Fyffes turned in a strong performance, gaining 10 cent, or 4.4 per cent, to €2.40. Greencore, which releases results next month, was another good performer, adding 8 cent, or 2.5 per cent, to €3.26, although volume was light at a little more than 400,000 shares.

C&C was also up, adding 8 cent, or 1.6 per cent, to €4.98.