Anglo Irish Bank was the flavour of the market after Tuesday's sparkling interim results, some gushing comment in the British financial press and a plethora of earnings upgrades from Irish and British brokers.
With almost 2.3 million shares trading in Dublin, Anglo closed 19 cents higher on €3.90. This leaves the share just nine cents off its alltime high, having recouped almost all of its losses in recent months.
Other financial shares were also firmer with AIB up 11 cents on €12.51 while Bank of Ireland was 15 cents higher on €10.96. Irish Life was the only financial to underperform, losing two cents to €12.38.
Smurfit saw some heavy trading as it hosted a conference and webcast for investors two days ahead of what is expected to be a stormy annual general meeting tomorrow. With almost five million shares trading, Smurfit edged a cent higher to €2.11. CRH was in good demand, closing up 19 cents on €19.17.
With Vodafone closing 71/2p lower on 199p sterling after launching a £3 billion sterling placing, Eircom was, not surprisingly, weaker, losing 10 cents to €2.58. Next Monday week will see the formal split of the shares once the Eircell demerger is approved.
Elsewhere, Fyffes traded in size but was unchanged on €1, Independent News & Media gained two cents to €2.55 in sizeable trading while Marlborough - the focus of an MBO proposal - was 10 cents easier on €0.60.
