Corporate earnings rally markets

The Irish market rallied today as European stocks were lifted in early trade by better-than-expected corporate earnings.

Markets weakened somewhat over the course of the afternoon, with brokers attributing this softening to the fact that commodities came off after several strong days.

The Iseq index succeeded in staying above the key resistance level of 3,000 however, adding about 0.7 per cent to close at 3,025.73.

Glanbia delivered the main stock-specific news on what was otherwise a quiet day on the Irish market with the release of its interim management statement.

Though the food group said it expects strong results for the first half of the year, it fell by 2.5 per cent, or 11 cent, to €4.35. One broker explained that investors were expecting the company to upgrade its outlook and so the stock was hit when this didn't materialise.

Kingspan moved ahead in advance of its trading update tomorrow. The insulation company rose yesterday after its peer SIG reported an 8 per cent increase in first quarter group sales, and it closed the day more than 1 per cent higher, or seven cent, at €6.62.

Although oil prices softened somewhat today, Ryanair didn't get much of a bounce, closing just two cent higher at €3.54.

Across Europe, France's CAC 40 Index advanced 0.1 per cent, while the UK's FTSE 100 dropped 0.7 per cent and Germany's DAX slid 0.1 per cent.

Additional reporting - Bloomberg