Falling oil, stronger dollar lifts Iseq

The fresh wind of easing oil prices and a firming dollar lifted the Dublin market into positive territory this afternoon.

At 1.05pm the Iseq was ahead almost 2 per cent or 112 points on 6,204.

A positive trading note from NCB on market heavyweight CRH helped lift its shares 2.5 per cent higher on €23.81.

NCB has reiterated its “buy “recommendation on the stock despite weakness in the US contraction sector to which CRH has a large exposure.

Another stock in the news today is Ryanair, which had its share price target downgraded by ABN Amro Holding this morning to €2.80 from €4.70.

However, with oil falling back to $115 a barrel and the dollar trading at around $1.55 the stock rose 4.2 per cent in early trade to €2.73.

Brokers said that strong results from Donegal Creameries - which reported a 66 per cent rise in operating profits last year to €9.28 million – was supporting other agri-food stocks.

IAWS shares were ahead 0.8 per cent at €16.25, while Glanbia stocks have added 3.4 per cent to €4.9. However, Kerry shares were off 2.6 per cent at €19.68.

After a difficult day yesterday, building stock Abbey is in negative territory again, down 2.6 per cent.

Many of the main financials are ahead at the midpoint, however: Anglo Irish is ahead 3.5 per cent at €8.07, AIB is up 2.4 per cent on €13.38, while Bank of Ireland, which has confirmed it is looking for a partner for its asset-management unit, is ahead 1.1 per cent on €8.90.

Analysts are also awaiting details of C&Cs rebranding plan, which may result in the rebranding of the Bulmers cider to Magners.

By 1.05pm, the FTSE 100 was up 29.9 points, or 0.48 per cent at 6,080, underperforming Frankfurt's DAX and Paris' CAC-40 because of weakness in heavyweight miners.