The Dublin market rose in line with international trends yesterday as traders expressed optimism about the international climate and speculated that President Clinton may survive the Monica Lewinsky crisis.
Despite the rise of almost two per cent in the value of the ISEQ, dealers are slow to say the depression of recent weeks is lifting. The two main banks led the charge, with AIB, rising from 850p to 879p in moderate trading, while Bank of Ireland, was up 20p at 1070p. Other financials shared the benefits of the ISEQ's rise. Irish Life was 12p to the good at 470p, while Irish Permanent increased 10p at 770p.
Elan, which is big enough to move the whole Dublin market, rose 135p during the day to 4147p, but was pulled back later when New York failed to come in behind the stock. Its acquisition of Nano Systems for $150 million (£102 million)was broadly welcomed by the market.
CRH, punished endlessly in recent weeks, re-bounded from 852p to 880p in average volumes, while Smurfit, lost a penny at 108p in strong volumes. Adare Printing had a very poor day, falling from a long established 780p to 582p in a sterling trade. Dealers could not explain the steep drop and said the company's fundamentals are sound. However, the company's finance director said a late sale in London was responsible for the fall. The stock is illiquid, so a sale can cause a sharp fall in the price.
It was a mixed day for exploration stocks. Bula, rose from 1p to 1.125p, while Tullow Oil put on 5p to finish at 92p. Some of this may have been caused by the rise in world oil prices after news that Gulf oil ministers will meet this week to consider what more might be done to spark an oil market recovery. Despite this Dana Petroleum lost 4p to close at 9p.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)