MARKET REPORT

Settlement Day: May 12th

Dublin turned a corner with its first winning session in two weeks yesterday. The ISEQ broke its downward trend with a gain of almost half a percentage point on the day to 5,263.99, after surrendering more than 5 per cent of its value in the past fortnight.

AIB was one of the shares leading the charge, as it shrugged off concern over its overcharging of customers to add 30 cents to €12.30, a gain of 2.5 per cent.

Dealers said the share was boosted by positive sentiment after its presentation to institutions and analysts in London, although volume was relatively light.

There was more business in Bank of Ireland, which was the busiest stock in the market as investors moved ahead of full-year figures next week. It closed 11 cents stronger on €10.14.

Elsewhere in the financials, Anglo Irish Bank was weaker for the second day running despite positive interim results on Wednesday and subsequent broker upgrades. It closed down 26 cents on €13.20. Irish Life & Permanent was eight cents weaker on €12.92.

CRH, which has also benefited from upgrades this week, saw the gloss taken off a reasonably good session by a couple of late sellers. It ended off a cent on €17.68.

Fyffes was a little stronger amid decent buying interest following its Swedish deal announced on Thursday. It closed on €1.60, up four cents.

Elan, too, continued its strong recent run, with a 56 cent advance to €18.22 after news that Elan would be joining its partner in the Antegren project, Biogen, later this month to announce maintenance trials data.

IAWS was slightly weaker after a 25 per cent share price slump by Krispy Kreme, a rival to its US joint venture partner Wendy's, following a profit warning. IAWS closed down 25 cents or 2.65 per cent on €9.20.

Kerry Group, which rose 40 cents against the trend on Thursday, saw some profit-taking and slipped back 10 cents to €16.50.