CRH gains drive up Iseq

Settlement Day May 19th:The Iseq was an outperformer in European terms today, driven in the main by gains in market heavyweight CRH.

The building materials group recovered some of yesterday’s losses after Merrill Lynch issued a buy note carrying a €21 price target. Share closed 56 cent stronger at €17.51.

The banks were all a bit stronger as the excitement of AIB’s shareholder meetings faded and the market looked ahead to tomorrow’s agm at Irish Life & Permanent.

After another volatile day, AIB gained 5.3 cent to reach 93 cent and Bank of Ireland rose 7.9 cent to €1.03 and Irish Life & Permanent climbed 24.8 cent to €2.448. One dealer described the financials as being “more like options than equities at the moment”.

The star performer across the session was Paddy Power, which moved as high as €16.50 before settling into a close of €15.99, up 73 cent on the day. The market was encouraged both by a solid trading update and a carefully-structured acquisition in Australia.

Also updating shareholders today was Kingspan, which reported “predictably tough” trading in the first few months of the year. Shares added 25 cent to end the day at €4.10.

Irish Continental meanwhile reported a 25 per cent drop in revenue for the first four months, with shares finishing 40 cent lighter at €10.85 on anaemic volume. The stock moved ex-dividend by €1 yesterday.

Ryanair gained some ground, closing 8.9 cent higher at €3.26, with buyers eyeing results at the start of next month.

C&C was treated by to an upgrade by Goodbody this morning, helping shares in the drinks group to rise 4.5 cent to €1.995.