Bank shares were given a boost on the Irish market today as traders reacted to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan's statement yesterday that the capitalisation of the banking system would be resolved by the end of the first quarter.
Shares in AIB rose were up 11.3 per cent by 9.30am to just over €1.50, before falling back slightly to trade up 10 per cent at €1.48 at just after 1.10pm.
Bank of Ireland rose 6.2 per cent to €1.62 this morning, making further gains by early afternoon to €1.63.
"This is sooner than we would have anticipated," Sebastian Orsi, an analyst at Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin, said in a note. "Resolving the issues sooner rather than later would be positive.''
Irish Life and Permanent was also lifted, rising 1.4 per cent to €3.55.
Heavyweight stock CRH, meanwhile, was down 3.6 per cent to €18.78 after it released a trading statement this morning that said profit before tax would slip 55 per cent in 2009. The statement was in line with analysts' expectations. However, the firm also said the outlook for recovery was still unclear.
Other stocks also showed some weakness. Greencore was down 3.5 per cent to €1.37 this afternoon, while Independent News and Media was down 3.1 per cent to just over 12 cent per share.
Ryanair was trading 1.9 per cent off, at €3.46, while rival Aer Lingus was up 3.9 per cent to 66 cent a share.
The overall index was off 16.82 points at 3,080.94 by 1.12pm.
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