Iseq ending week on the up

The Iseq is in positive territory today with heavyweight stocks CRH and Kerry Group driving the Irish index forward.

The Iseq is in positive territory today with heavyweight stocks CRH and Kerry Group driving the Irish index forward.

The Iseq was up almost 30 points at 2894.71 at 12.30pm.

CRH added 11 cent, rising to €14.45, this morning despite the slightly negative outlook for the construction sector contained in a Euroconstruct forecast.

Kerry Group added 42 cent to reach €28.80 and Dragon Oil, which issued a promising report from drilling at its Dzheitune well, was up almost 17 cent on the session at €5.86.

AIB, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanent all performed strongly this morning after Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said "every red cent" of debt owed by the pillar banks would be repaid.

AIB and Irish Life and Permanent both added 10 per cent, rising to 16.5 cent and 7 cent respectively on small volumes. Bank of Ireland added 5 per cent rising to 12.5 cent.

However, one trader said the banks were "penny stocks" at this point in time and that gains in early trading could easily disappear as the value of trades was only in the "small thousands".

Elsewhere, European shares hit a new three-month low this morning and faced the prospect of a seventh straight week of losses on the back of political upheaval in Greece and as concerns over debt default.

Shares, however, pared losses on market speculation that a new bailout package for Greece had been agreed.

Risk appetite of equity investors dropped, as the Euro STOXX 50 volatility index was up 5.6 per cent after rising to its highest level in three months. The index has jumped about 25 per cent in four days on jitters over the Greek debt crisis.

Greek prime minister George Papandreou appointed a new finance minister on Friday in a reshuffle to muster support for harsh economic reforms that have stoked violent unrest and split his ruling party.

The FTSE 100 bounced off a session low of 5,644.98, rising 7.63 points, or 0.1 percent to 5,706.44. The index is down 1 percent on the week, heading for its fourth consecutive week of losses.

Additional reporting - Reuters

Steven Carroll

Steven Carroll

Steven Carroll is an Assistant News Editor with The Irish Times