Poor bank performance restricts market rally

Dublin Report: Momentum continued to improve in the Irish market yesterday, as volumes crept back up towards average levels. Price growth was, however, limited, with the banks holding back the overall index.

The worst hit of the financials was Anglo Irish, where shares finished down 32 cent at €19.45. The bank fell victim to market whispers about a possible repricing of its UK loan book but these are believed to be completely unfounded.

Elsewhere in the sector, AIB fell two cent to €16.72 while Bank of Ireland shed 17 cent to close at €12.38.

Irish Life and Permanent dropped by 15 cent to €13.85.

Elan, the star of the market on Wednesday, was a touch more subdued yesterday, closing unchanged at €3.25.

About one million shares were traded in Dublin, with dealers reporting retail interest only.

Elsewhere, CRH remained reasonably quiet, with just 300,000 shares changing hands. The company rose by one cent to €21.00.

Ryanair fell by 15 cent to €6.05, again on subdued volume.

Fyffes was busier than most, as nearly 2.5 million shares were traded.

The fruit company added three cent to finish at €2.24.

DCC, which is being sued by Fyffes in an insider trading case, fell by 10 cent to €17.90.

Iona Technologies tumbled in Dublin as news emerged of Dr Chris Horn's move from the chief executive position to a non-executive role. The drop from €3.09 to €2.79 came on low volume.

Irish Continental Group was unchanged at €10.00, despite concerns expressed by NCB about the effect of higher fuel costs on its earnings.

IAWS was in good form, climbing by 13 cent to €11.75. Fellow food group Greencore fared worse as it declined by four cent to €3.10.

Kerry added 20 cent to end the session at €19.20. Eircom finished two cent lower at €1.91.

In London, Tullow weakened by 2.75p to 177.25p.