Market report: The Irish market performed reasonably well considering the bank holiday atmosphere, although major international markets like London displayed considerably more vigour.
Traders said they expected a quiet day with some staff taking part in the Dublin marathon. "The market performed well considering the day that's in it. Okay it wasn't quite as dynamic as London, but it was up 1.7 per cent," said a trader. The ISEQ was up 111 points at 6,576.23.
However, while traders welcome this increase and decent trading volumes, the lack of corporate news this week could mean further progress is minimal.
While many expected the day to be quiet, the news that Telefonica had made a £17.7 billion sterling bid for O2 helped to drive the market higher than many expected. The main beneficiary of the O2 announcement was Eircom. Volumes of trading in the stock were described as very healthy. It closed the day up 5.2 per cent at €2, up 10 cent on the day.
"The sentiment towards telecoms stocks is definitely moving into positive territory on the back of this," said a trader. Telefonica, the Spanish telecoms giant, is prepared to pay a 22 per cent premium on closing price for last Friday.
"Its certainly bolsters the valuations of a range of telecoms' stocks and Eircom is one of them," said another trader.
Following a Sunday newspaper report about a potential management buy-out, IWP group was up 10 per cent on the day at 6 cent.
Banks were also trading in reasonable volumes, although Bank of Ireland failed to finish the day ahead. It closed down at €12.63, a drop of 2 cent on the day. AIB on the other hand was a strong performer, up 2.7 per cent to close the day at €17.46, up 46 cent.
Ryanair was once again a strong performer. The recent falls in the fuel prices are helping the stock, said traders. The stock closed up 3.3 per cent at €7.01, up 23 cent.
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