This Week In The Markets

The Irish market was closed yesterday, but finished strongly on Thursday evening, gaining over 1 per cent. It marked the reversal of four successive days of falls in the market.

A strong response to Greencore's £71 million malting acquisition in Britain a good recovery by Bank of Ireland after the recent profit-taking and the very successful relisting of Marlborough shares after its suspension, were the main reasons for Thursday's good performance.

Bank of Ireland fell 35p to 1375p after an interview its chief executive Mr Maurice Keane had given to the newsagency Bloomberg on Wednesday, in which he said that lending margins were tightening and foreign exchange income would fall with EMU. However, the shares gained 40p on Thursday.

Greencore finished the week strongly with its share price up 42p to 442p following the acquisition and analysts believe it could go to as high as 480p. The deal to buy Pauls Malt was seen as exceptionally favourable terms for Greencore and brought the shares to a new high. Pauls is also likely to be earnings enhancing from next year.

The market began the week very quietly with early profit taking on Monday morning but it recovered slightly in the afternoon following news that Citicorp and Travellers Group were merging. Both Dunloe and McInerney reported positive results.

The market slipped further on Tuesday with some sizeable profit-taking especially among the leaders, particularly Bank of Ire- land and Allied Irish Bank.

The industrials also suffered with CRH dropping 25p to £10.55. Smurfit was also weaker on 215p.

On Wednesday there was a noticeable lack of upwardly trading stocks. Kerry was one of the few stocks which bucked the downward trend, gaining 5p to £10.15p.

There was also some profit-taking in Irish Life shares which saw its price fall by 18p to 682p. Wednesday's performance was in strong contrast to the release of figures which had shown that the market had a return of 29.1 per cent for the first quarter and pension funds had increased by an average of 20.2 per cent.

However, Thursday brought better news with steady gains across the board. Among those who saw their shares recover were CRH, the two big banks, Irish Life and Smurfit.

Marlborough shares had been suspended while the Walker Hamill acquisition was being completed. They soared on relisting, dealing up to 360p from 200p at suspension. A further five million shares in now in issue and the group's market value has doubled to £113 million.