Beleaguered AIB trades up after early price plunge

Iseq: 2,963.34 (+1.48)

AIB PLUNGED on the Dublin market yesterday after the beleaguered bank revealed it had racked up a €2 billion pre-tax loss during the first half of the year.

Although AIB’s interim results were broadly in line with expectations and contained no great surprises, the stock sank 13 per cent at one point during yesterday’s session.

However, after a weak start, it found its feet and traded up in line with markets generally. It closed about 5.5 per cent off, or 5.5 cent, at just over 93 cent.

Bank of Ireland was “woken up” by AIB’s news, one Dublin broker said, and was actively traded. However, it came off a fairly decent run to close down 2.3 per cent, or two cent, at 84.5 cent.

Meanwhile building materials group CRH weakened considerably in early trade as the impact of disappointing updates from two US peers filtered through. Both Martin Marietta and Vulcan Materials reported weaker than expected second-quarter results on Tuesday, and saw their share prices soften by 6 and 9 per cent respectively in US markets that evening.

As a result CRH found itself under pressure when the Dublin market opened yesterday morning, and it tumbled from €16.31 to below €15.84. However, it staged an impressive recovery in later trade and closed in the black at €16.33.

Budget airline Ryanair pushed ahead by more than 1 per cent, or five cent, to €3.95 after announcing that its traffic numbers grew to record levels in July. Rival airline Aer Lingus also put in a decent performance, finishing up more than 2 per cent at 97 cent.

Cider manufacturer CC, which holds its agm today, recovered from a weak start to close more or less flat at just under €3.28. The Iseq was little changed, rising just 1.5 points to 2,963.34.

Settlement date: August 9th