THE market rebounded from early weakness to close well up on the day, helped by a solid opening on Wall Street and ignoring another weak pre-budget performance in London where the FTSE closed down 1.5 per cent.
Pricewise, the only significant change was at Bank of Ireland, which jumped 10p to 720p, while other financials were largely unchanged or down on the day. AIB gained 1p on 513p, Irish Life was 2p easier on 340p while Irish Permanent lost 5p to 610p.
Woodchester was 5p lower on 290p as the sale of the group reaches an advanced stage.
Industrials were generally quiet. Smurfit gained 3p to 193p while CRH was 1p easier on 700p. James Crean was unchanged on 235p, but the shares were well-offered at that level against the background of the company declared intention to almost double its dividend cover, a move that will cut the payment to shareholders.
Elsewhere, Elan was stronger on Wall Street and closed up $ 5/8 on $42 1/2, accounting for a large portion of the rise in the ISEQ Index where it logged a 64p rise.
Ardagh did not trade from its overnight 130p as Yeoman disclosed that it bought 2.7 million shares last Tuesday to take a near 8 per cent stake in the glass company. Ryanair was unchanged on 320p, Greencore fell 10p to 320p Golden Vale was 2p weaker on 76p ahead of next Tuesday's a.g.m. while Adare was unchanged on 700p ahead of results next Monday.
