The Irish stock market closed higher, helped by a good performance from CRH, but dealers said trading remained thin while newsflow was light.
Settlement Date: December 15th
"Volumes were anaemic. It was mainly range-trading. The banks have been confined to a 15 to 20 cent range," one dealer said.
AIB, which was downgraded from "buy" to "hold" by UBS Warburg, closed unchanged at €13.55. M&T, the US bank into which its Allfirst subsidiary will be merged, released fourth-quarter results showing a jump in earnings per share from $1.30 to $1.40.
Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent gained 10 cents to €10.40 and €10.30 respectively.
CRH added 35 cents to €12.95 but Ryanair gave up 10 cents to €7.05. Jurys Doyle, which reported a return to profit growth earlier this week, was up by 30 cents to €7.60 while Paddy Power added 14 cents to €5.25.
In the pharmaceutical sector, Elan closed 20 cents higher at €3.00 as the market welcomed the appointment of a new chief executive and news that the asset disposals programme was proceeding well.
Galen also recovered from recent weakness, adding 10 cents to €6.80, as management contacted large investors to reassure them about patent concerns, dealers said.
Arnotts gained 10 cents to €11.50 after Carrgran said it was still considering making a higher offer for the retailing group.
Among the other stocks deemed to be in an offer period, Alphyra lost 11 cents to €2.36 while Riverdeep was up five cents to €1.25 as investors awaited further progress on the management buyouts.
