DUBLIN REPORT COLM KEENA Iseq: 6,259.51 (+144.47) Settlement date: April 23rdIT WAS a generally positive day for the Dublin exchange, driven by more positive international sentiment for financials.
Some traders said there was a tentative view that the interbank credit crunch might be coming to an end. They said some investors may be feeling that the negative reaction of recent times was overdone.
Irish Life and Permanent had a particularly strong recovery, ending the day up 5.43 per cent at €12.
Bank of Ireland ended the day up 3.85 per cent at €9.17 and AIB was up 2.27 per cent at €13.5. Anglo Irish Bank, however, did not profit from the positive sentiment, ending the day down 0.12 per cent at €8.18.
Positive results for Caterpillar were released in the US during the day, but they contained slightly negative detail on its US business and this worked against CRH, which ended the day up just 0.96 per cent at €24.28.
Horizon Technology, which announced that it was recommending a cash offer from Avnet for the company, ended the day up 6.54 per cent at €1.14.
Elan rose 6 per cent during the day to close at €15.6, while Ryanair rose 2.59 per cent to €2.77. Food stocks did well, with Glanbia rising 3.73 per cent to €5 and IAWS rising 3.4 per cent to €16.1. Kerry Group rose 2.79 per cent to €20.3.
A number of the small resource stocks saw significant rises in their share prices, though on small numbers of deals.
Aminex rose 12 per cent to €0.28, Tullow Oil rose 4.97 per cent to €9.3 and Dragon Oil rose 3.26 to €15.6.
Not all stocks rose during the day. Independent News & Media ended the day down 1.05 per cent at €1.89, with almost 4 million shares traded in more than 200 deals. McInerney ended the day down 4.04 per cent at €1.07.
