The Iseq advanced with European markets today, as investors returned to Irish index bellwether Ryanair.
Investors had shied away from the low cost airline yesterday after it sounded a cautious note for the year ahead and revealed intentions to cut winter capacity. However Ryanair's "story" is going down well now and buyers came back into the name, according to a Dublin broker.
Although it had to cancel all flights to and from Scotland this afternoon because of the latest volcanic eruption in Iceland, the ash cloud had no impact on Ryanair's share price, which rose 1.2 per cent, or 4.3 cent, to €3.40 on decent volume.
Indeed the airline sector in general advanced today despite flight disruptions, and Aer Lingus added more than 1 per cent, or one cent, to just under 80 cent.
Elsewhere, food group Greencore fell out of favour despite reporting 4 per cent growth in first-half group sales. Although one trader described the results as disappointing, others said they were reasonable given the backdrop of a weak consumer environment and margin pressures.
The stock had been pushed up from €1.05 to €1.20 in advance of its results on the back of speculation of a possible private equity bid. When an announcement of this kind failed to materialise, Greencore pared its gains, and closed about four cent down at just under €1.17.
Overall the Iseq index rose 0.4 per cent to 2,921.82. France's CAC 40 Index climbed 0.3 per cent. Germany's DAX Index and the UK's FTSE 100 Index both increased 0.4 per cent.
Additional reporting - Bloomberg