MARKET REPORT: Irish shares gained 1.3 per cent, buoyed by a strong performance on Wall Street amid hopes of further rate cuts in the US, writes Jane O'Sullivan.
Settlement Date: August 9th
The two leading banks gained ground while Ryanair dazzled the markets with a strong set of results.
The airline, which reported a 68 per cent rise in after-tax profits, ahead of market expectations, added 10 cents to €6.20. But dealers said the modest rise was mostly because the stock had risen strongly in recent days in the run-up to the results.
"Like them or loathe them, they were a fantastic set of results," one dealer noted.
AIB and Bank of Ireland both benefited from some speculation ahead of results today from Royal Bank of Scotland that the British bank was poised to announce plans to expand in the Irish market.
However, dealers said talk of a link-up with one of the two large Irish banks was probably unfounded.
Nonetheless, AIB added 39 cents to €12.89 while Bank of Ireland was up 33 cents to €11.85.
Other financial stocks did not fare as well, however, with Anglo Irish Bank losing 12 cents to €5.82, First Active down 10 cents to €4.70 and Irish Life & Permanent unchanged at €12.10.
Smurfit added six cents to €2.96 ahead of the announcement today of the level of acceptances for the Madison Dearborn bid by the first deadline.
CRH gained 10 cents to €14.00 while Galen was up 16 cents at €5.26 ahead of the release of third-quarter results today.
Among the stocks that lost ground were Kerry Group, down 10 cents to €13.45, and Kingspan, which shed four cents to €1.91.
