Bullish action drives strong trade across the board

Market report: Investors were feeling bullish in Dublin yesterday, with dealers reporting a strong appetite for stocks across the board.

The main stocks were all in demand, although price movements were limited in some.

AIB closed unchanged at €14.38, in contrast to Bank of Ireland, which climbed by 13 cents to €11.61. Anglo Irish, where chief operations officer Mr Tiarnan O'Mahoney announced his resignation, weakened by five cents to €16.

Irish Life & Permanent also went against the positive grain as it shed five cents to finish at €13.45.

Outside the financials, CRH posted solid volume but failed to manage any price progress. Shares finished at €19.38, down nine cents.

McInerney was a notable outperformer, rising by 42 cents to €6.18.

The housebuilder has been included in the MSCI Small-Cap Index in its latest reshuffle. The change, which will see Independent News & Media exit, takes effect at close of business on November 30th.

Fellow housebuilder, Abbey, added 10 cents to close at €8.10.

Grafton made the news late in the day when it emerged that the Competition Authority would be taking a closer look at the firm's proposed takeover of Heiton. Grafton finished at €7.67, up four cents. Heiton closed at €6.90, up 15 cents.

Ryanair moved ahead in line with the general trend, finishing 13 cents stronger at €5.03.

Waterford Wedgwood was not so lucky, with the weakening dollar helping to pull shares down by one cent to seven cents. The stock, which is expected to report interim results this week, touched a low of 6.3 cents.

Greencore, which will report full-year numbers on Tuesday, rose by four cents to €2.89. DCC, which was upgraded by Goodbody after last week's results, dropped 15 cents to close at €16.20.

In New York, Iona was in fine form, trading up 13 per cent at $5.39 in the afternoon session.

Settlement Day: November 22nd