Marke Report: The market managed to pull itself up to a positive close yesterday, helped by overnight trends in the US and yesterday's bounce in London.
The star of the show in Dublin was undoubtedly Ryanair, which climbed by 23 cent, or 3.3 per cent, to close at €7.18. The stock has held up well since Tuesday's results, supported by a subsequent investor roadshow.
Elsewhere, the financials won a reprieve from the week's ravages, with the sector as a whole adding 2 per cent.
AIB rose by nearly 4 per cent, or 69 cent, to €18.20, while Anglo Irish Bank added 30 cent to close at €11.40. Bank of Ireland let the side down by falling by 12 cent to €13.58, but Irish Life & Permanent did better, rising 65 cent to €18.05.
Dealers noted, however, that volumes were fairly muted across the market. "The conviction to go back into the market is maybe not there yet," said one observer.
Elan crept up a touch, adding three cent to finish at €12.38 upon news of a 20 per cent price increase on Tysabri.
Merrion said this increased its sum-of-the-parts valuation for the stock to €12.50, implying that the share price already assumes a strong Tysabri performance.
Shares were trading at $15.79 in New York yesterday.
Independent News & Media shed one cent to end the week at €2.25 in the wake of Thursday's reassuring annual general meeting statement. Both Davy and NCB have a price target of €2.70 on the stock. A detailed trading update is expected before the end of the month.
O'Reilly stablemate, Waterford Wedgwood did better than the market in percentage terms, rising by 4.6 per cent. This equated to a 0.2 cent increase to 4.5 cent.
The firm will issue results on Monday, with news of another rights issue also expected.
C&C was solid again, closing eight cent stronger at €6.70 amid continued good feeling about the summer cider market.
CRH was also firm, rising by 75 cent to €24.22.
