Dublin Report: Eircom and Ryanair were among the more active stocks on the Irish market yesterday as overall trading remained relatively quiet with Wall Street shut for a US holiday.
Eircom edged up by two cent, or 1 per cent, to €1.94 with five million shares traded in Dublin and a further five million changing hands in London.
Dealers said the company was on the road meeting investors and the stock had been helped by signs that its rights issue was going down well. Ryanair benefited from strong August passenger traffic numbers which showed a 27 per cent increase in the numbers using the low-cost airline last month while its load factor remained broadly stable at 91 per cent.
The shares added 14 cent, or more than 2 per cent, to €6.74 in volume of more than 4.5 million.
Other stocks to attract investor interest yesterday included Kingspan, which published bumper first-half results and raised its full-year guidance, and Irish Life & Permanent, which is due to release its interim figures on Wednesday.
Kingspan shares broke the €11.00 level in early trading to hit an all-time high of €11.13 before later giving up some ground to close at €10.96, a gain of six cent on the day. Shares in Irish Life & Permanent added 25 cent, or 1.7 per cent, to €15.30 ahead of results, expected to confirm strong volume growth in both the insurance and banking business.
Other banking stocks turned in a more pedestrian performance with Bank of Ireland unchanged at €12.90, Anglo Irish Bank down four cent to €11.26 and AIB up seven cent to €17.72. Among yesterday's losers was Paddy Power. Despite better than expected first-half results from British rival William Hill, the bookmaker lost 45 cent, or 3 per cent, to €14.35 amid general selling pressure.
In the exploration sector, Tullow Oil was down seven cent, or more than 2 per cent, to €3.25 while Dragon Oil shed 12 cent, or 4.6 per cent, to €2.47.
Settlement Day: September 8th
