Smurfit Kappa hits high note while AIB loses 7%

Iseq:2,909.94 (+16.57) Settlement date:January 28th

SMURFIT KAPPA was the big winner on the Iseq yesterday, with the international packaging company jumping 7.3 per cent.

The reason, according to analysts, was a sector upgrade by Credit Suisse, and positive analyst comments on Smurfit. The share price rose 7.5 per cent to close at €8.65.

Elan was the other big gainer, advancing 7.6 per cent to €5.18.

Elsewhere, attention was focused on AIB, which, as announced just before Christmas, will move to the smaller ESM exchange from today. On its last day of trading on the main exchange, the stock fell a hefty 7 per cent to close at just under €0.25, although the fall may be attributable in part to the fact that some funds may have had to sell their holding, due to restrictions on whether they can hold shares in smaller exchanges.

CRH continued its strong run of late, passing the €16 mark to finish at €16.02, a gain of more than 3 per cent.

Aer Lingus continued to suffer as the dispute with cabin crew intensified. The share price shed 3 per cent to close at €1.02, though volumes were extremely low, with shares trading at a fraction of their average volume.

Ryanair was quite weak into the close, slipping 1.5 per cent to €3.56.

After a torrid five days Greencore regained some ground in terms of share price, advancing 1.76 per cent to finish at €1.16.

Independent News & Media was another mover, giving up some of its recent gains to shed 3.5 per cent to €0.59.

Overall, the strong performance of Index heavyweights CRH and Elan as well as Smurfit, helped to push the Iseq index into positive territory, bucking the European trend that saw most European stock markets closing lower, on the back of disappointing fourth-quarter UK growth figures.