Main banking stocks lift the market

Interest in the main banking stocks buoyed up the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday despite the pre-Christmas lull in trading activity.

The financials dealt in "reasonable volumes", one dealer said, while second-liners were drifting in end of year trade as managers cleaned up their portfolios. Across Europe, the impending launch of the euro in January is also putting a dampener on the volume of market activity. Traders are now being encouraged to wait for the conversion to occur before opening new deals.

AIB took the lead yesterday in 25 deals, rising 17p or 1.6 per cent to 1050p, while Bank of Ireland rose 5p to 1360p in 11 deals. Interest also focused on Irish Life, which closed at 534p sterling, up 7p from 600p, while its merger partner, Irish Permanent, eased back 15p to 960p. Otherwise, the activity yesterday centred on the bigger stocks. CRH settled at 1020p sterling in eleven deals, up 13p from 1135p. It announced that its subsidiary, Irish Cement, intends to double capacity at its Limerick plant.

Smurfit closed down 6p from 107.25p sterling to 115p.

Among the exploration stocks, Ovoca traded up 3p to 40p after announcing a pre-tax loss of £51,863 or 0.21p per share for the six months to the end of August although test drilling is ongoing in Tipperary.

Other stocks in the sector saw some slight movement. Bula was up 0.125p to 0.875p and Providence was up 0.125p to 1.375p. Arcon and Glencar were unchanged at 20p and 41p respectively.

James Crean was up 2p yesterday to 82p. It announced the appointment of Mr Donnacha Hurley as chief executive of the company's print and packaging division as part of a demerging plan. But observers will be looking for more fundamental changes in the ailing group, with the splitting of its chairman and chief executive roles as a suggested starting point.