STEADY demand continued to push the Irish market ahead firmly, with the Stock Exchange drawing strength from the early gains on Wall Street and the firm tone on international equity markets.
Wall Street may have drifted towards a break even level just after the close in Dublin, but prices are reasonably well underpinned and the ISEQ is likely to move back above the 3,000 level before the end of the week.
Bank shares once again led the upward movement, with Bank of Ireland up 6p on 635p and AIB 4p firmer on 443p. The continuing industrial dispute has had little impact on Irish Life which gained, 5p to 333p, while Irish Permanent was unchanged on 595p.
Among the industrials, Smurfit was 2 1/2p higher on 164 1/2p but is, still below the 168p level before its, dismal 1996 results were announced. As a consequence of the results and the downbeat comments on current trading, Goodbody has slashed its 1997 profits forecast from £199 million to £114 million with the earnings forecast cut back from 12.9p to 7.2p.
On that forecast, Smurfit is on a prospective price/earnings ratio of almost 23. That sort of valuation suggests that there is little likelihood of the share progressing much beyond current levels.
CRH gained 5p to 640p but trading in the share was thin.
Golden Vale regained another 13p to 60p, with the market showing its approval of the full scale review of the group's activities being carried out by new chief executive, Mr Jim Murphy. Waterford Foods was another out of favour stock to regain some ground, with a 3p jump to 77p.
