The unexpectedly benign nature of the US job figures gave stock markets a huge boost yesterday, with the Dow surging 270 points by the time Dublin closed and the FTSE hitting an all-time high. The Irish market reacted positively, with the ISEQ up 1.9 per cent to its best level since mid-July. Dealers believe that, given the positive international background, further gains are likely in the remaining weeks of the year.
Price gains, however, were not great and the rise in the index is largely down to the gains by Elan. But dealers said there was strong bid interest in most of the leaders, particularly those stocks with substantial dollar earnings which will benefit from the strength of the dollar and the weakness of the euro.
The best of the domestic stock was Eircom, which traded up 14 cents to €4.12 (£3.24), benefiting from the strength of the European telecoms sector. Otherwise, the leaders were ahead by matters of cents, with AIB up 5 cents on €13.00 (£10.24), Bank of Ireland 12 cents higher on €6.58 (£5.18) and CRH up 3 1/2 cents on €20.10 (£15.83).
Elsewhere, there was strong demand for Independent, which dealt up 20 cents to €5.70 (£4.49), while Smurfit closed 2 cents higher on €2.87 (£2.26). IWP disclosed that it bought back 200,000 shares at €1.80 (£1.42) and €1.90 (£1.50), while Fidelity emerged as a big recent buyer of Tullow, adding over 374,000 shares to take its stake to 12.1 shares or 5.13 per cent. Ryanair was another strong performer, gaining 30 cents to €10.50 (£8.27).
