Dublin Report: Ireland's benchmark index advanced for a second consecutive day, led by financial shares, as they tracked gains in larger European counterparts buoyed by takeover speculation and fading concerns about the impact of higher interest rates on the property market.
The Iseq Overall Index rose 65.89 points, or 0.8 per cent, to close at 7.873.84 yesterday. Anglo Irish Bank jumped 35 cent, or 2.8 per cent, to €12.80, while Bank of Ireland climbed 16 cent, or 1.1 per cent, to close at €14.96.
"Anglo had a large sell-off earlier this year on fears of the impact of higher rates on demand for property but credit statistics in Ireland are very strong, on both the mortgage and non-mortgage side," one Dublin trader said.
"In addition, Anglo traditionally outperforms the bank index in the last quarter and it looks like that could happen again this year," he said.
AIB shares rose at a slower pace, gaining 13 cent, or 0.7 per cent, to end the day at €20.19. Shares of Irish Life & Permanent, meanwhile, increased 25 cent, or 1.3 per cent, to €19.30.
Financial stocks rose across Europe amid speculation the number of takeovers in the region will increase.
Shares of mortgage broker IFG advanced four cent, or 2 per cent, to €2.02 after the financial services group said on Thursday that pretax profit jumped 61 per cent in the first half of 2006 as finance costs declined and its fee-based business grew in the UK. The stock closed unchanged the previous day.
"IFG had a solid set of results and people are getting confident about the management and the fact that they made progress in each of their three main divisions," a dealer said.
Datalex shares, though, declined two cent, or 2.8 per cent, to 69 cent, after the travel software group said revenue fell in the first half of the year due to changes in short-term licence arrangements at its e-business division.
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