The trading week got off to a quiet start on the Irish market today as investors sat on the sidelines in advance of Thursday’s banking stress test results.
Cement stock CRH supported the market with a decent performance, gaining 3 per cent, or almost 50 cent, to €16.88 on almost 1.5 times normal volume. There was no specific news in the name, but brokers noted it continues to be favoured by investors looking for a play on ongoing recovery in the US.
Easyjet was up 3 per cent today on comments from its chief executive over the weekend but Ryanair didn’t really react to this move, closing just fractionally higher at €3.27. Rival airline Aer Lingus lost ground, slipping 1.5 cent to 75 cent.
Paddy Power, which has flatlined a little lately, gained almost 2 per cent, or 61 cent, on normal volume to close at €30.70.
Building materials producer Readymix came under pressure initially after it announced that potential takeover talks with unnamed third parties had been terminated. It lost two cent initially, but then firmed up over the afternoon to finish unchanged at 20 cent. Volumes in the name were characteristically low.
Overall the Iseq market gained about 25 points to finish at 2,906.43. France's CAC 40 Index and the UK's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.1 per cent, while Germany's DAX Index slid 0.1 per cent
Additional reporting - Bloomberg
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