Banks positive following rally

Bank shares showed further gains on the Iseq this morning following a rally by financials yesterday.

Bank shares showed further gains on the Iseq this morning following a rally by financials yesterday.

At 10.15am, AIB was up 0.592 at 1.70, Bank of Ireland rose 2.857 per cent to 1.80, while Irish Life and Permanent was up around 1 per cent.

Bank stocks led a rally on the Iseq yesterday that saw the index surge 4.5 per cent at one point before profit-taking saw it end the session 3.99 per cent stronger.

Bank of Ireland led the way, with the shares jumping as much as 30 per cent on results that, in the words of one trader, “just didn’t need to be too bad”.

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The lender today had its rating raised to “add” from “reduce” at Goodbody Stockbrokers, who said many of the risks associated with the bank have been discounted.

About 24 million shares were traded in Dublin and London yesterday after the bank was seen as addressing all the issues that had been spooking the market ahead of the figures.

Ryanair was down just over 1.5 per cent this morning at 2.194. The company has been downgraded to "add" from "buy" at AlphaValue, with the six-month target price put at €3.22 per share.

The carrier announced on Tuesday that its October load factor had remained flat at 85 per cent with capacity and passenger numbers both up 15 per cent.

Additional reporting Bloomberg