IT may have been a slow start to the week, but, by the time the Irish market closed yesterday evening, many of the bigger companies were celebrating further all time highs. Wall Street was showing no visible sign of its latest bull phase running out of steam.
Turnover figures for the week show that the heaviest trading continued to be in three of the leading stocks - AIB, Bank of Ireland and CRH - but there was also some chunky trading in some of the second liners.
The only indifferent performer in the week was Irish Life where concern over likely industrial action next week eroded some investor confidence.
AIB has continued to benefit from the positive response to the Dauphin acquisition, with the market drawing comfort from the comments from the bank that earnings will be not affected in year one, and will move steadily ahead in years two and three.
AIB's First Maryland subsidiary took advantage of the positive tone to tap US capital markets for $150 million to boost its Tier One capital ahead of the completion of the acquisition.
Other financials were also in strong demand, with Bank of Ireland and Irish Permanent moving to new highs, while Anglo Irish and Woodchester remained well bid as possible takeover targets.
Among the industrials, a recommendation from one of he big London houses fuelled demand for CRH and the share closed just off its all time high yesterday. Results from JS Corp - generally seen as indifferent - initially knocked Smurfit backwards but the shares gradually recovered although they are still finding it difficult to break through the 170p barrier.
IAWS has been one of the darlings of the market in the past year with its shares up well over 20 per cent in the past 12 months. Investors were delighted with the news that the group has made its first move into the continental European fertiliser market with its £6.7 million investment for 45 per cent of IKEM.
This is seen as an ideal low risk investment which should be a springboard for further expansion in Europe by IAWS. In the short term, the IKEM investment is seen as adding around 1p to earnings per share and this should support the IAWS share price at its current levels.
Results from Fyffes were generally well received, although some analysts felt that the enthusiastic reaction was overdone, given the absence of growth in the existing business. The Geest acquisition looks to be an excellent buy and the share price has benefited. Fyffes's five year share price performance, however, is pretty dismal with the shares up only 16 per cent in the period and underperforming the market by over 40 per cent. Despite the results, there is no indication yet that the share price performance is going to improve.
Finally, the decision by AIB to bring Goodbody's Irish bond dealing desk under the wing of AIB Capital Markets came as a bombshell to those not intimately involved with activity on the bond market.
While AIB subsequently played down the significance of the Goodbody break up, the restructuring has caused surprise in sections of the investment community.
