With the British banking sector getting a strong boost from the positive trading statement from Barclays, financial shares led the charge in the Irish market yesterday with the two big banks notching up sizeable rises. Whether that positive tone continues today remains to be seen, but a good set of numbers from AIB should ensure continued interest in the financials.
Ahead of those results, it traded up 47 cents to €16.40 (£12.92). Bank of Ireland was 42.5 cents higher on €19.175 (£15.10) while First Active gained 10 cents to €4.30 (£3.39). As the merger gets closer, Irish Life and Irish Permanent were both firmer with Irish Life up 15 cents to €9.05 (£7.13) while Irish Permanent added 10 cents to €14.55 (£11.46). Among the industrials, Clondalkin benefited from a good set of figures and an earnings-enhancing acquisition in the Netherlands and was 35 cents higher on €5.50 (£4.33). It remains a moot point whether even good financial results will be enough to rekindle institutional interest in second-liners like Clondalkin. CRH was firm and closed up 11 cents on €16.36 (£12.89) while Golden Vale was two cents easier on €1.02 (80p) ahead of today's results.
Smurfit enjoyed renewed bid interest and was seven cents higher on €1.77 (£1.39) as packaging sectors got as bit of a lift in New York.
In New York, some of the Irish technology shares outperformed with Esat trading over $2 higher on $49 1/4 (€44.07) as the Irish market closed although Elan was hit by profit-taking and was trading almost $1 1/2 lower as Dublin wound up for the day.
