Anglo Irish Bank shines as it logs a 17-cent rise

Market Report: Anglo Irish was the star of a generally quiet market yesterday, with shares climbing as high as €14.60 after the bank issued a strongly positive trading update at its a.g.m. in Dublin. The rise was tempered a touch by the close, but shares still managed to log a 17-cent rise to €14.17.

Irish Life & Permanent was also in solid form, with shares up 20 cents at €13.90 at the end of the session as merger speculation continued to sweep European financials. Neither AIB nor Bank of Ireland caught the mood, however, with shares in the banks ending unchanged at €13.65 and €11.77 respectively.

Ryanair was the source of most excitement outside the banks, with shares falling two cents to €7.00 as the airline said it was bringing forward its quarterly results to avoid a clash with the European Commission's report on Charleroi.

CRH gave up all of Thursday's gains by declining 40 cents to €17.35. Goodbody believes the potential in the stock remains on the upside, however, having raised its CRH price target to €21.60. The broker says the firm's earnings outlook is improving after last year's programme of acquisitions.

McInerney was busy at €5.19 and €5.20 before closing at €5.24, up eight cents on the day. Fellow housebuilder Abbey was less solid as it fell 20 cents to €8.00. Grafton shed 12 cents to close at €5.91, while Heiton dropped five cents to €4.70.

Irish Continental was unchanged at €12.00 as Irish Sea traffic statistics showed that the company grew its freight volumes by a healthy 8.9 per cent and its car carryings by 3.1 per cent last year.

Elan was volatile after losing ground in the US on Thursday night. Shares fell 28 cents to €6.92. Fyffes lost two cents to close at €1.71 as analysts wondered how well the firm would balance lower dollar-denominated input costs against falling European banana prices. Greencore fell two cents to €3.38. Glanbia went better in early trade but was unchanged at €2.33 at the end of the day.