Ryanair and Aer Lingus rally in afternoon

DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 3,327.22 (-10.47) Settlement Date: April 22ndTHE ISEQ index closed 10 points lower, slightly outperforming other European markets which continued to lose ground yesterday on the back of continuing concerns about fraud charges against investment bank Goldman Sachs and the volcano in Iceland.

After opening sharply lower, the Iseq index regained ground during the day, with financials gaining a boost from positive results from US banking giant Citigroup which posted its biggest profit since early 2007.

Airline stocks were the main talking point yesterday as airlines across Europe took a battering as concerns mounted about the impact of the Icelandic volcano.

Despite losing ground on the day, Dublin’s two listed airline stocks fared better than expected according to traders, rallying somewhat in the afternoon. There was a lot of activity in Ryanair, which may have received a boost from Easyjet results which suggested positive underlying figures. Nonetheless, the Dublin-based budget airline closed 3 per cent lower, although it did claim back some of the steeper losses sustained in early morning trade.

Aer Lingus also finished the day lower, slipping 4 per cent on the day to close at €0.72.

Irish financials all advanced on the day, boosted by Citigroup’s results. Bank of Ireland advanced 2.3 per cent ahead of its rights issue expected next week, which traders expect to be received well by the market. AIB rose 3 per cent, or 5 cent, to close at €1.55, while Irish Life and Permanent added 1 per cent to close at €3.37.

Smurfit Kappa added 1 per cent to €6.80 after the international packaging company announced it had signed an asset-swap agreement with paper maker Mondi. Elan added 3 cent after it announced it is exploring the possibility of separating its drug technologies unit and creating two publicly-listed companies.