Market still unsure about B of I and A&L merger

Bank of Ireland failed to bottom out of its downward track yesterday following the dissipation of any euphoria over its merger…

Bank of Ireland failed to bottom out of its downward track yesterday following the dissipation of any euphoria over its merger discussions with Alliance & Leicester (A&L). Bank of Ireland was back 15 cents to €18.00 (£14.18) although it did achieve an intra-day high of €18.20 (£14.33) as investors awaited further details of the proposed deal. A&L, meanwhile was back a more marginal 2.5p sterling to 915.5p sterling (€14.00).

AIB had greater volume trading yesterday but was also back, closing at 849p sterling (€12.98), and setting the tone for the ISEQ which followed European indices and eased back a slight 0.2 per cent on the day.

The other financials fared better with Hibernian holding its price of €7.80 (£6.14), Irish Life & Permanent gaining 5 cents, closing at €12.40 (£9.77), and Anglo Irish gaining 2 cents to close at €2.62 (£2.06). First Active was back 15 cents to €3.80 (£2.99).

The main industrial stocks made slight gains on the day. CRH was up 5 cents at €16.85 (£13.27) and Smurfit gained 2 cents, closing at €2.55 (£2.01). Clondalkin was unchanged at €7.00 (£5.51) but Powerscreen had an institutional deal which saw its price rise by 13.5 cents to €2.535 (£2.00).

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Kingspan, whose board underlined the strong fundamentals of the group at yesterday's a.g.m., was up 3 cents to €2.70 (£2.13). Arnotts, which also had an a.g.m. yesterday, was 5 cents stronger at €7.65 (£6.02).

McInerney, which announced the expenditure of £7.6 million (€9.65 million) on land purchases this summer, saw no movment in its price but Green Property was back 5 cents to €5.55 (£4.37). On the New York Stock Exchange, Elan was up 1.25 to $53.75 (€51.49). But Ryanair, which is announcing full year results today was back 1.57 per cent to $47.125 (€45.15)