Market Report:A rallying US market on Wednesday evening spilled over into a positive day for the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday, with the Iseq index of Irish shares finishing up 0.74 per cent.
Paddy Power came in ahead of the rest yesterday, climbing 5.5 per cent to €22.79 on the back of positive news in the betting sector, with the EU poised to challenge state gambling monopolies in member-states such as France, Germany and Greece and rumours of bids for British betting firm Ladbrokes.
The European Commission's formal announcement on Wednesday that it is blocking Ryanair's bid for Aer Lingus led to renewed interest in the latter airline, as speculation about what Ryanair might do with its stake forced Aer Lingus up almost 4 per cent. It closed at €2.65.
There was also good business in Ryanair, which finished the day at €4.96, down one cent.
Interest flared in Kingspan ahead of its trading update today, with investors expecting an upbeat picture. It rose by almost half a per cent to €20.47.
There was also activity ahead of Independent News and Media's trading update today, but volumes were fairly contained as the stock added 1 per cent to close at €3.71,
The loss of a contract to supply sandwiches to Starbucks in Britain has not dented Greencore too badly.
Its share price rose almost 2.5 per cent yesterday, closing at €5.42.
Among the banks, AIB, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life and Permanent finished up, recovering part of the previous day's losses, but Bank of Ireland slipped 2 cent.
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