Anglo-Irish surges again on back of impressive results

Market Report: Anglo Irish Bank was the clear star of the market again yesterday, with reaction to Wednesday's superb results pushing the stock up by 75 cents to 11.60 on volume of 3.8 million shares. The stock was upgraded by brokers in both Dublin and London, with new price targets ranging around the 14.00 mark.

Settlement Day: December 2nd

Performances were mixed elsewhere in the financials, with Bank of Ireland the most impressive as it rose 14 cents to €10.34. AIB dropped two cents to 12.10, while Irish Life & Permanent moved 25 cents lower to €12.00 on relatively poor volume.

First Active bounced on news that the Competition Authority will not be investigating its takeover by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The bank closed six cents stronger at 6.15, while its shareholders gave their approval for the RBS acquisition at meetings in Dublin.

DCC became the busiest of the industrials when the company bought back 1.6 million shares at 10.80 in late trade. The stock was up five cents at 10.78 at the close.

Volumes held up reasonably well elsewhere, despite the dampening influence of the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Ryanair was at the lower end of the scale, however, with less than 200,000 units traded as it rose three cents to 6.53.

CRH strengthened for the sixth day in a row, adding four cents to finish at 15.54. Also in positive territory was Paddy Power, which climbed 11 cents to 6.79 amid continued reaction to new UK gaming laws.

Losers on the day included FBD, which dropped 60 cents to €12.20 on characteristically low volume. Jurys Doyle weakened on similarly light trade, closing 14 cents lower at €10.01.

Tullow was unchanged at 1.12 as Merrill Lynch Investment Managers emerged as the holder of 10.01 per cent of its shares.