THE continued strong performance across international bond markets supported further gains in the financial sector yesterday, where Irish Life was the centre of investor's attentions.
Most financials enjoyed another good run, with the two main banks both gaining ground on the day. AIB closed up a penny at 394p, having reached highs of 395p in early trading. Bank of Ireland also managed to rise on the back of the stronger international sentiment, putting on 2p to close at 511p.
Irish Life stole the show, however, accounting for the biggest deals put through on the day.
While rising on the back of firmer bond markets, the stock has managed to find favour once again with investors. Many market sources believe this is based on speculation that it could become the target of a takeover bid, possibly by one of the big British institutions.
Having underperformed the financial sector for the best part of the year, investors are also seen to be finding the potential yield on the stock attractive.
Following good demand, Irish Life closed up 2 1/2p to 275 1/2p yesterday, with further upside expected over the rest of the week.
The industrial sector was fairly quiet, with CRH staying unchanged at 637p while Smurfit dropped a penny to 167p.
Food stocks were also in demand, with Fyffes adding 2p to 104p. Golden Vale also looked to be back on a path to recovery, improving by a penny to 66p.
Greencore moved strongly ahead, trading up 1/2p to 360p while Kerry was unchanged at 670p.
Irish bonds enjoyed mixed fortunes in active trading yesterday as the focus switched from the currency markets to the issues of convergence and international bond market conditions.
The 8 per cent bond due in the year 2000 eased 25p from Tuesday's close to £105.85 to yield 6.18 per cent, while the 8 per cent bond due in the year 2006 rose 60p to £1208.05 to yield 6.72 per cent.
Today the market will be keeping a close eye on Central Bank banking statistics to the end of September, for indications of the strength of credit growth in the economy.
