Bad news from Wall Street spoils early gains

DUBLIN REPORT BARRY O'HALLORAN Iseq: 6,115.04 (+0.73) Settlement date: April 22nd THE DUBLIN market made good ground yesterday morning, with leading stocks adding to gains made on Wednesday, dealers said.

However, bad news from Wall Street saw it lose momentum in the afternoon, and many shares ended the day well off highs that they had reached in early trading.

Merrill Lynch reported a $1.96 billion net loss for its first quarter, an announcement that badly hampered the progress of Irish financials, which account for a significant weighting of the overall index.

Anglo Irish Bank closed at €8.19 after reaching highs of €8.77 earlier in the day. However, the result meant that the bank was still marginally in positive territory at the end of the day, as its close represented a gain of 7 cent or 0.86 per cent.

Volumes were reasonable, with more than 4.4 million shares changing hands in Dublin.

AIB travelled all the way to €13.50 before dropping back to close at €13.20. This was a 20 cent gain on the previous day's close, and boosted the bank's value by 1.54 per cent. Volumes were close to 1.5 million units.

Irish Life & Permanent had a good day, adding 11.8 cent or 1.04 per cent to close at €11.42. Bank of Ireland was the only financial to end the day on a losing note. It shed 7 cent to close at €8.83.

Drinks group C&C was one of the star performers, adding 14 cent to close at €4.30. This was a gain of 3.37 per cent.

Food ingredients specialist Kerry Group also did well. Investor interest boosted its share price by 45 cent and it ended the day 2.33 per cent up at €19.75.

Also in the food business IAWS gained 22 cent to close at €15.57, an increase of 1.43 per cent. Bookmaker Paddy Power, which published its annual report yesterday, crossed the finish line 25 cent ahead at €22.55, leaving it 1.12 per cent up on the day.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times