Ryanair and CRH keep Iseq ahead of peers in Europe

DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,648.67 (+50.49) Settlement date: July 10thSTRONG PERFORMANCES from leading stocks CRH and Ryanair boosted the Dublin market's performance yesterday, keeping it ahead of its European peers which were either flat or down.

The Iseq was up 1.94 per cent, while in London the FTSE 100 was down eight points at 4,187 and Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 fell for the fourth straight day.

CRH, which alone accounts for about one third of the entire Irish index, closed up 5.37 per cent at €15.98 despite issuing a trading statement saying that first-half pre-tax profits would be down at €100 million this year from €600 million in 2008.

Investors immediately reacted by selling the stock in the morning. It dropped as low as €14.46 in the morning, before staging a Lazarus-like comeback which saw it touch highs of €16.33, at which point it slipped back slightly to its eventual closing price.

Dealers suggested the recovery might have received an extra push as short sellers were caught out and had to take remedial action.

“I would say there was an element out there who were saying that the stock has massively underperformed its peers in recent weeks and decided to buy,” one observed. “A lot of the shorts might have been a little bit caught out and started buying their position back.”

Ryanair was the other big performer. The low-cost airline closed up 3.7 per cent at €3.215 having traded at about €3.20 for most of the day. Dealers said the performance should be seen in light of the fact that its shares closed particularly low on Monday. Cider maker CC lost further ground, down 4.03 per cent at €2.38.

The banks closed off, but volumes were not strong. Bank of Ireland was 4.08 per cent down at €1.41, AIB was down 1.5 per cent at €1.58 and Irish Life Permanent was down over 3 per cent at €3.08.