Dublin Report: The Dublin market was relatively quiet, with only Bank of Ireland, C&C, AIB and Fyffes trading in reasonable volumes. Emmet Oliver reports
A lack of corporate news probably exacerbated the subdued atmosphere but, nevertheless, the ISEQ managed to increase by 23.84 points to close at 6,667.73.
Next week promises to be busier with a large number of results due to be issued, including fresh figures from Glanbia and Kerry.
Ahead of its results, Glanbia lost a little momentum, dropping by 3 per cent to close at €2.90. Kingspan also issues results shortly (on March 8th) and sentiment appeared to favour the company, with the stock up by 1.49 per cent to close at €8.18.
Eircom traded in strong volumes (five million shares between London and Dublin), although traders said there was no particular reason for the activity. However, one trader said the markets remained keenly interested in whether Eircom managed to enter the mobile market or not.
One of the best performers among the leading stocks was Irish Life and Permanent. It closed at €15.25, up 2.9 per cent.
Jurys was down on the day by almost 2 per cent to close at €12.45. The stock still has a solid profile, said traders, but an announcement from Choice Hotels of a €115 million investment in Ireland, once again raised the issue of over capacity in the sector.
Despite Ryanair's announcement on Thursday of 70 new Boeing aircraft (plus an option on 70 more), the stock failed to push on and closed almost unchanged at €6.15.
One trader explained the lack of momentum: "There are still two schools of thought on the shares. One school is very positive, while the other has worries about the airline growing too quickly."
Not surprisingly, high oil prices (still above $51 a barrel) once again provided some buoyancy for exploration stocks. Tullow was up by 5.8 per cent, closing at €2.55.
Settlement Day: March 2nd
