Irish market closes up again

The Irish market climbed for the third day in a row today, as bullish US markets led to a rally in financial and construction stocks.

The Iseq closed up 114.75 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 4,494.95 on a positive day for Irish stocks.

Leading the charge were financial stocks, and Irish Life & Permanent was the star performer, adding to its gains on Wednesday by finishing the day up 52 cents or 8.9 per cent to €6.44.

AIB was next in line, advancing by 60 cents or 7.4 per cent to close at €8.75. Bank of Ireland was up 32 cents or 6.1 per cent to €5.53 but Anglo Irish Bank gave away some of its previous day’s gains by dropping back by 2 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to €5.70.

On the back of strong US housing results, CRH gained 85 cents, or 5 per cent, to climb to €18.10. Ahead of its interim results today, Grafton Group stayed fairly steady at €4.00, adding 3 cents or 0.8 per cent to its share price. Kingspan closed the day up once more, increasing by 15 cents, or 2 per cent, to €7.70.

Although it opened down 4 per cent due to announcing an operating loss of €22.3 million for the first six months of 2008, Aer Lingus clawed back some of its losses during the day, as a sell-off in oil saw it rebound to close the day up 7 cents, or almost 5 per cent, to €1.49. Similarly, Ryanair finished the day up 13 cents, or 5 per cent to €2.65.

Weaker than expected results from housebuilder McInerney saw its share price nosedive, as an operating loss of €22.1 million for the first six months of 2008 led to its share price declining by 9 cents, or 24 per cent, to €0.29.

Following a temporary 15 per cent decline due to a broker error on Wednesday, TVC Holdings opened the day back up at €0.87 where it stayed until close.

In the US, stocks were up for a third day, as growing exports led the economy to expand at a rate of 3.3 per cent in the second quarter, which was much faster than previously expected. Financial stocks performed particularly strongly, with bond insurer soaring by 29 per cent after it won significant new business. By 11 am, the S&P 500 had gained 9.19 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,290.85.

Strong performances on the US markets led to a corresponding rally across Europe. In London, financial stocks helped the FTSE 100 closed up 73 points, or 1.3 per cent, at 5,601.2.

In France, a jump of 8.9 per cent from Credit Agricole saw the CAC 40 finish the day up 1.9 per cent to 4,455.86, while in Germany, strongly performing financial stocks saw the DAX close up 1.6 per cent to 6,420.54.