The old economy stocks had another good run yesterday with the financials gaining most from the renewed interest in the sector.
AIB went more than 4 per cent higher on stronger sentiment, closing up 31 cents to €9.91. Bank of Ireland also took further steps in the right direction but failed to stage a similar recovery to its arch rival, ending the session unchanged at €6.30.
Anglo Irish Bank improved, rising to €2.18 up 10 cents while Irish Life & Permanent was 30 cents stronger at €8.90. First Active did not benefit on the day though, closing three cents lower at €2.15.
Eircom was fairly steady, closing unchanged at €4.80, while Elan was also broadly unchanged, closing fractionally lower at €44.1, down five cents.
Other stocks on the move include Ryanair which lost 10 cents, falling to €9.05, Iona Technologies which slipped to €78.12, down €5.68, and Fyffes which improved 14 cents to €2.60, having lost ground earlier in the week in response to a profit warning.
CRH ended the day lower at €19.12, down 33 cents and Smurfit was unchanged at €2.50. Greencore recorded a 10-cent improvement which saw the shares move up to €3.20.
Dunloe Ewart shares closed ahead at 43 cents, up four cents on the back of strong figures for 1999.
Riverdeep's shares were weak again, trading to a low of €6.80, down 90 cents. Meanwhile in information lodged with the Irish Stock Exchange, Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) has notified its purchase and subsequent sale of 36.6 million shares or 22 per cent of the share capital of Riverdeep. The shares, which were purchased at 10 cents (US) each, were acquired under the terms of an underwriting agreement with the company.
