Tullow Oil soars 13.3% and fuels Iseq's rally

Iseq: 2,524.01 (+4.59) Settlement date: September 11th: IRISH STOCKS continued their rally alongside their European peers yesterday, but showed distinct signs of slowing down later in the day as the ECB warned about intensifying risks to recovery, and Wall Street awaited details of President Obama's and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's plans for the US economy.

A number of leading players on the Dublin market started the day well but shed some of the gains they made in early trade as buying activity appeared to run out of steam in some quarters.

A 1 per cent jump in oil prices on world markets gave exploration and production group Tullow Oil a boost. In Dublin, it added 13.3 per cent to end the day at €13.84.

In London, where most of the Irish company’s shares are traded, it added just shy of 4.8 per cent to close at £12.27 sterling.

The Dublin market’s biggest stock, CRH, slipped slightly, closing 0.21 per cent down at €11.89. Its good run on Wednesday had earlier looked set to continue but buying activity levelled off later on.

DIY and builders’ merchant, Grafton lost more than 1 per cent to close at €2.85.

Figures showing that first-half sales at one of its British rivals, Homebase, were down 3 per cent on a like-for-like basis were thought to have prompted the fall.

Earlier, shareholders in US drug technology business Alkermes voted to buy Elan’s formulation and manufacturing unit for about $960 million.

The deal will turn Elan into a pure biotechnology play and leave it with $300 million in cash. The stock gained 0.45 per cent to close at €7.41 in Dublin.

Kingspan ended the day more or less flat at €6.20, but it did gain almost 1.3 per cent in early trade.

Ryanair continued its good run of form, adding 1.9 per cent to close at €3.16.