Dublin report:In what has become a rare feat for the Dublin market in recent times, the Iseq index of Irish shares was up 1 per cent yesterday and outperformed the main London market which only managed to tread water.
Volumes were lower than normal, however, and traders said the market was particularly quiet during the morning session.
Large cap stocks led the way as a significant number of stocks recovered from the low volume days that brought prices down last week. AIB continued its resilience of recent weeks despite M&T Bank, in which AIB has a 24 per cent stake, reporting a 70 per cent fall in earnings related to US subprime exposure.
Ireland's largest bank was up 1.4 per cent on the day, while Bank of Ireland regained ground and finished up 3.5 per cent. One of the largest moves of the day. Irish Life & Permanent was the only financial stock to finish in negative territory - down eight cent to €10.42.
There was little in the way of corporate newsflow from Irish-listed stocks and what news there was from the UK did not have a significant impact. Grafton did not see any bounce from good results in its sector in the UK and was down slightly on €4.995.
Kingspan was one of the better performing stocks in the construction sector and traders said there was plenty of buyers about as the stock rose 3.18 per cent to end at €10.37 on the day. CRH's climb of 3.32 per cent was attributed to better market sentiment in the US. Light volumes in Independent News & Media suggested that neither Denis O'Brien nor Sir Anthony O'Reilly had been building their stakes.
Ryanair continued to be weak and was down 2.32 per cent to €3.79 on a day when most European airlines were in the ascendant and oil prices easing.
