Banking stocks delivered double-digit gains today, as the overall Irish market rose 1.7 per cent.
AIB overtook Bank of Ireland as the strongest performer today, adding 18.5 per cent to close just under 45 cent. Bank of Ireland rose 14.5 per cent to 41.7 cent, while Irish Life & Permanent wasn’t far behind, gaining 14 per cent to finish at €1.16.
Of the three stocks, Bank of Ireland was the busiest, with about 35 million shares traded today. As has been the case in recent weeks, activity in the name picked up during the afternoon session, with heavy trading reported in its US line.
As the largest constituent of the Iseq, CRH once again skewed the performance of the Iseq index. The cement stock rose more than 3 per cent, or 46 cent, to finish at €15.03 on decent volumes of 2.8 million shares. This move was in line with CRH's sector, as most of its peers rose between 3 and 4 per cent on the day.
Grafton Group was also up, adding almost 4 per cent to finish at €2.97.
Low-fares airline Ryanair was fairly steady all day, and finished more or less flat at just under €3.82. One Dublin broker expressed surprise that the stock didn’t go better on the day given the rumours (which proved correct) that air travel tax on passengers would be reduced in the Budget yesterday afternoon.
Aer Lingus, which will also benefit from the reduced travel tax, added just four cent to finish at just under €1.10.
Elsewhere, Greencore fell about 3.5 per cent, or five cent, to finish at €1.39 after announcing the acquisition of Boston-based sandwich manufacturer On a Roll Sales Inc.
Fellow food stock Glanbia was also a loser on the day, shedding one per cent to €3.38, while Norkom marked down about 1.5 per cent to €1.25.
Overall the Iseq index rose about 47.47 points, or 1.7 per cent, to just below 2,800. Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index and Germany's DAX both rose 0.7 per cent, while France's CAC 40 was up 1.6 per cent higher.
Additional reporting - Reuters