Stock markets around the world shook off fears of interest rate rises in the US, Britain and the euro zone, to notch up strong gains yesterday. The expectations are that while the Bank of England will probably raise rates, the Fed and the European Central Bank will hold off on any tightening for the moment.
Most financials, which have suffered badly recently for domestic reasons as much as anything else, were firmer yesterday.
AIB jumped 27 cents to €11.70 (£9.21), Bank of Ireland was 25 cents higher on €7.90 (£6.22) while Anglo Irish Bank was three cents firmer on €2.33 (£1.84). Irish Life & Permanent remained in demand on continued speculation that Natwest may sell off Ulster Bank. In such a situation, IL&P is seen as a certain bidder.
Among the industrials, Independent put in a strong performance on the back of a series of bullish brokers' notes and yesterday jumped 15 cents to €5.10 (£4.02). Eircom was steady and added one cent to €4.11 (£3.24) while Fyffes was also firmer, gaining six cents to €1.78 (£1.40). Elsewhere, IAWS moved ahead five cents to a new high of €4.65 (£3.66) while Smurfit was unchanged on €2.78 (£2.19).
New York trading saw most of the Irish stocks move ahead, although Trintech is finding life as a plc a bit of a struggle after its initial surge and the shares were trading marginally easier as the Dublin market closed on €12.19, down six cents on the day. Ryanair was trading strongly upwards to almost $46 while Iona was almost a half dollar higher on $13.25 as Dublin closed.
