Iseq: 3,322.47 (+42.21) Settlement date: October 19th
THE ISEQ put in a strong performance yesterday, in line with its European counterparts, as cautiously positive figures from the US lifted sentiment across the world. Traders in Dublin observed a reasonable level of activity as the Iseq ended the day 1.47 per cent higher.
The main driver of the gains was construction giant CRH, the largest constituent of the Irish exchange. It advanced almost 4 per cent - a jump of 77 cents - with US figures boosting the performance of the company which has a significance presence in North America.
Financials did not fare so well.Positive results from US investment bank JPMorgan failed to lift the Irish banking stocks, although one trader noted that a series of rights issues elsewhere in Europe may have diverted investor attention away from Irish financials. Irish Life & Permanent saw the biggest drop, ending the day 3 per cent off at €5.41.
Bank of Ireland shed almost 1 per cent to end at €2.84, while AIB was off almost 0.5 per cent at €2.86.
Despite oil hitting its highest price so far this year, both the airline stocks put in a strong performance. Aer Lingus advanced 2.7 per cent on the day, although volumes were below average.
Ryanair ended the day close to 3 per cent up - a gain of 9 cent to €3.46 - on the back of healthy volumes.
Smurfit was another good performer yesterday. It closed 3.6 per cent higher at €6.00, a gain of 21 cent, buoyed up by a positive update from European packaging company DS Smith, which pointed to improvements in the European packaging market.
Petroneft Resources ended the day flat ahead of its egm today at which the company will seek approval of the second tranche of the company's recent successful $27.5 million conditional placing.
