BOND and share prices rose strongly on the Irish market as investors reacted positively to the rally on Wall Street, which in turn was driven by US non-farm-payroll figures which suggest an interest rate rise in Britain is unlikely.
The charge on the Dublin market was once again led by the major financial shares with AIB dealing up 7p to another new high at 455p while Bank of Ireland was 5p higher on 615p. Earlier, Bank briefly joined the £3 billion club when it traded at 618p but the share drifted back towards the close.
Irish Life finally broke out of the narrow range in which it has traded as its industrial dispute with MSF deteriorated and closed up 6p on 281p while Irish Permanent moved to another new high with a 2p gain to 570p.
Industrials were firmer but under-performed the financials. CRH was 2p higher on 650p while Smurfit was 1/2p down on 173 1/2p Independent dropped 9p to 325p for no obvious reason but Irish Continental continued to recover and added another 20p to 520p.
Bond prices rose strongly after the publication of the non-farm payroll figures and the subsequent sharp rise in US treasury bond prices.
The US long bond was up 29/32 on a yield of 6.69 per cent at the close and European bond markets followed suit. Prices in Dublin rose by as much as 55p at the long end of the curve but dealers said that turnover was not huge.
