Iseq: It was a tale of two banks on the Irish market today, with AIB outperforming its European peers while Bank of Ireland trailed at the back of the pack.
In general European banking stocks were weaker as concern over euro zone debt problems grew, but AIB bucked the trend. It traded up by more than 6 per cent, or about three cent, to finish just below 47 cent, making one of the best performing banks in Europe on the day.
Right at the other end of the spectrum was Bank of Ireland which tumbled almost 4 per cent, or 1.5 cent, to 39 cent.
Both AIB and Bank of Ireland were driven by very heavy activity in their US lines, and brokers struggled to assign a reason for their differing performances.
Although the Government’s new banking Bill is expected to be passed in the Dáil this evening, one broker explained that this had little impact on the banks’ share prices, as the effect of the legislation was already “largely known”.
CRH lost much of the ground gained on Tuesday, shedding more than 2 per cent, or 35 cent, to finish at €15.25.
However distribution and business support services group DCC continued on its upward trajectory, albeit at a slower pace than in recent sessions. The company has benefited over the past two weeks from the cold snap because of its relatively large exposure to oil distribution in the UK, and it added another four cent today to close at €22.20.
Smurfit Kappa and Aryzta gained 20 cent each to close at €7.62 and €33.25 respectively. Cider manufacturer C&C was slightly better, nudging ahead by about four cent to just over €3.23.
Overall the Iseq index gained about 0.7 per cent. France's CAC 40 fell 0.5 per cent, and the UK's FTSE 100 dropped 0.1 per cent as did Germany's DAX. Spain's IBEX 35 dropped 1.5 per cent after Moody's placed the country's Aa1 local and foreign currency government bond ratings on review, saying Spain will need to raise about €170 billion in 2011.
Additional reporting - Bloomberg
