Many markets across Europe were closed today due to Ascension Thursday meaning volumes were particularly low. The Iseq finished flat, down marginally by 0.42 per cent.
The main performer of the day was Kingspan. Having released a fairly bullish statement this morning in which it flagged a noticeable pick up in business in the past six weeks, the company also benefitted from indications that the construction industry may now have bottomed out and will improve.
It finished the day at €7.45, up 4.5 per cent. Paddy Powers also had a relatively good day, based again on low volumes, finished up by 3.4 per cent at €25.75 in anticipation of a trading update due next week.
An article which appeared in the Farmers’ Journal indicated that there may be a second vote on the proposed sale of Glanbia’s Irish dairy division to its 54 per cent shareholder, the Glanbia Co-op after an earlier vote was narrowly defeated by co-op members.
The company’s stock remained steady rising by 0.8 per cent to 3.02 at the end of the day.
The Irish banks didn’t fare as well. An underwhelming statement released by Allied Irish Bank this morning did little to excite and traded just 360,000 in volume finishing down by 1.1 per cent at €1.35.
Irish Life and Permanent finished down by 3.8 per cent at €2.550 on foot of an update due tomorrow which many are anticipating will not be harsh enough in regulating the loan losses on their mortgage book.
Bank of Ireland also finished down by almost 3.6 per cent at €1.61 due to a lack of news ahead of rights issue details which are due next week.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.1 per cent higher at 1,049.89 points today, its highest closing level in more than a week in a volatile session where the index swung between positive and negative territory. The index, which rose 1.3 percent on Wednesday, has soared 8.5 percent so far this week, on track to post its biggest weekly surge since November 2008, lifted by the massive bailout unveiled at the weekend to tackle the euro zone debt crisis.
Portuguese leaders agreed tough new austerity measures, joining a coordinated euro zone push that has so far calmed the markets' worst fears of a Greek-style debt crisis spreading. But concerns that the measures could harm growth hurt investor sentiment.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.9 per cent and Germany's DAX added 1.1 per cent, but France's CAC 40 fell 0.06 per cent, Spain's IBEX dropped 1.1 per cent, Italy's MIB shed 0.7 per cent and Portugal's PSI 20 lost 0.8 per cent.
Banks were among the biggest sector fallers, with the STOXX Europe 600 banking index down 0.7 per cent.
Among the gainers, BT Group jumped 10.9 per cent after the telecoms carrier's full-year results beat market expectations.
Markets in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland were closed for Ascension Day.
