MARKET REPORT:THE ISEQ spent much of yesterday in catch-up mode following strong buying of financial stocks late on Thursday in the US after the Dublin market had closed.
The Dublin index finished up 1.4 per cent yesterday, following modest gains in the UK and in early trading across the Atlantic.
Sentiment towards banks picked up in late trading in the US on Thursday after Merrill Lynch left its dividend unchanged, signalling that strains on banks may have eased.
Irish banks largely followed this lead yesterday, with Anglo Irish Bank up 30 cent, or 3.7 per cent, to €8.10, while AIB was up 28 cent, or 2.1 per cent, to €13.35.
Irish Life & Permanent managed a six cent gain to €10.90 despite UK peer Aviva's disappointing results from its Irish life business. Bank of Ireland dropped two cent, or 0.22 per cent, to €8.87 after heavy selling in the afternoon. Brokers say institutions have dumped large numbers of shares in the company in the past three days.
A belated response to the fallback in oil prices from the record high of $119.90 a barrel on Tuesday benefited all European airline stocks yesterday. Ryanair jumped 15 cent, or 4.1 per cent, to €2.77, while Aer Lingus gained three cent, or 2.1 per cent, to €1.89.
Attacks on oil pipelines by militants in Nigeria and threatened strikes at North Sea platforms helped to push oil prices from $115 a barrel early yesterday to close to $119 later in the day, auguring more weakness for the airlines when markets open on Monday.
Dragon Oil finished unchanged at €6.43. Tullow Oil was up eight cent to €8.93.
Grafton fell 17 cent to €5.03 while Kingspan rose one cent to €7.55, recovering little from the losses it racked up on Thursday following the dire outlook from UK housebuilder Persimmon.
