Some reprieve as recovery by CRH pushes Iseq up 0.6%

DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,635.93 (+15.81) Settlement date: August 30th

THERE WAS some reprieve for the Irish market yesterday, a day after the Iseq experienced its biggest slump since October 2009 on the back of heavy falls by CRH.

The Dublin market closed up 0.6 per cent on the day, mainly due to a slight bounce-back by CRH. The building materials group, the largest constituent on the index, added 2 per cent to finish at €11.96, having sustained falls of almost 17 per cent on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, strong first-half results from corporates provided a welcome boost as Ireland’s financial health was in the spotlight following Tuesday night’s debt downgrade from Standard Poor’s.

Analysts noted that the banking stocks performed fairly well considering the downgrade, with the stocks having already priced in persistent concerns about Ireland’s creditworthiness and the ability of banks to source funding.

AIB was weak throughout the day, falling as low as 74 cents in mid-afternoon trading. It closed almost 3 per cent lower at €0.78. Having traded down for much of the day, Bank of Ireland rallied towards the end of the session, in line with a recovery in US markets, adding 1 per cent to finish at €0.76.

Paddy Power was the star performer yesterday after the company reported a 54 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to €52.5 million for the first six months of the year and predicted that full-year earnings could rise by 30 per cent.

Its share price rose by more than 5 per cent in morning trading but fell back slightly during the day to close up 2. 5 per cent at €26.66. Volumes were very low on the stock, however.

Glanbia added just under 1.5 per cent to €3.43, after posting a 40 per cent rise in operating profits for the first half of the year.

FBD, which also published interim results yesterday, shed 0.75 per cent yesterday to close at €6.94, despite reporting a narrowing of losses in the first half of this year.