While banking shares were the only game in town yesterday, it was the turn of CRH today.
Today was the official date for the inclusion of the company on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 Index and over 30 million CRH shares were traded on the Iseq.
While CRH’s share price had been advancing throughout the week in anticipation of the announcement, the price surged towards the end of the trading session to coincide with the official announcement at 4.30pm. The stock finished the day 95 cent higher, a gain of 4.8 per cent, to close at €20.70.
The performance of CRH, the largest constituent on the Irish exchange, failed to boost the overall performance of the Iseq which ended the day lower, dragged down by a fall in bank shares as the market settled down in the wake of the Nama valuation announcement on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, there was healthy activity around banking shares today, with one Dublin trader noting significant international interest, particularly in Bank of Ireland stock.
Both AIB and Bank of Ireland fell significantly in early trading, but regained some of the losses, to end the day 2 per cent and 3.8 per cent lower, respectively.
Traders noted indications of profit-taking in Irish Life and Permanent, the only listed financial institution which is not directly involved in the Nama process. It was off just over 10 per cent, or 60 cent on the day, closing at €5.25.
Drinks company C&C had a strong performance, advancing 14 cent to €3.20, as it gained clearance from the Competition Authority on its Tennents deal,and analysts noted that Magners performed slightly better than expected in August.
Independent News & Media reversed its 12 per cent gain yesterday, losing 8 per cent of its value by close of business today, as speculation continued about tensions among the company’s board members.
It was a mixed end to the week for European stock markets, which had reached an 11-month high in the previous session.
London’s FTSE closed up 0.2 per cent – its sixth consecutive day of gains – to close at 5,173. Frankfurt’s DAX ended 0.5 per cent lower at 5,704, while in Paris, the CAC slipped marginally to end at 3,823, down 7.
As the market reacted to the strengthening dollar, trading on the main US markets has been choppy so far today. At 6.15 pm GMT, the Dow Jones was up 0.45 per cent at 9,828 while the Nasdaq was up 0.25 per cent.
