Strong trading as market bounces back

The Dublin market yesterday recovered much of the ground it lost in Monday's sell off and, with the Iseq Index of Irish shares up 3.77 per cent on the day, it posted one of the best performances in Europe.

Ryanair, one of the stocks that has suffered most in recent weeks, was a notable performer, adding 14.4 cents to close almost 4 per cent up at €3.78, with 2.5 million shares traded in Dublin.

Building materials giant CRH also staged a comeback, gaining 90 cent to end the day at €23.70, again close to 4 per cent ahead on the day. Investors mopped up one million shares in the company. Dealers said that the company reached a high of €24.96 during the day and tested lows of €22.05. In a related sector, Grafton, which investors have avoided because of its perceived vulnerability to a building slowdown, added 27.7 cent to close at €4.90, almost 6 per cent ahead of its opening price.

Drinks group C&C continued its recent climb to close 20.9 cents up at €4.45.

The financials also bounced back. AIB gained 72 cents - more than 5 per cent - to close at €14.87, with almost 2.5 million shares traded. Bank of Ireland was once again the stock most in demand. Investors bought 6.62 million shares in the bank, adding 50 cents or 5.59 per cent to the price.

Anglo Irish Bank gained 36 cents to close at €9.01, an increase of 4.16 per cent, on the back of 3.3 million shares traded.

One of the few losers on the day was packaging group Smurfit Kappa. It shed 35 cents to close at €8.09, a fall of 4.15 per cent. Dealers said that the company was out of favour with investors who were generally wary of its sector at the moment, and said this had little to do with what has been happening in the Irish market.