Market Report:The story was mixed in the Irish market yesterday as strong demand for Aer Lingus and Ryanair failed to offset negative sentiment among the financials.
Overall, the Iseq ended the day marginally down, a fate also suffered by its British counterpart. US stocks also traded lower after a US government report showed much weaker-than-expected job growth in September.
Aer Lingus continued its upward momentum propelled still by news that rival Irish airline Ryanair had made a bid for the group. As it stands, Ryanair is currently unable to buy any further shares in the former State-owned airline as they are trading above the €2.80-a-share offer price.
The gains were, however, muted by comparison to Thursday when the stock jumped 15 per cent. Yesterday it closed up 8 cent, or 2.8 per cent, at €2.98 - a move that equates to a 20 per cent gain in its first week of official trading.
Ryanair, meanwhile, fared better than it did on Thursday when news of the bid pushed its shares in a downward direction. Yesterday they closed up 13 cent, or 1.5 per cent, to end the day at €8.80.
Shares in Viridian, which trades mainly in London, were up 7.9 per cent yesterday, to close at £13.18 after the company said it had agreed a £1.62 billion takeover bid from a Bahrain-based investment group.
Elsewhere, the financials put in a mixed performance, with Allied rising marginally, to end the day up 6 cent, at €20.61, while Anglo was down 0.8 per cent, at €13.25.
Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, dropped 1 per cent, to close at €15.20. The bank yesterday said its private banking unit had invested €50 million on behalf of its clients in its first major Asian property project.
