Heavy demand for financial stocks drove the Dublin market to another all-time high yesterday with the ISEQ index rising by almost 1 per cent to finish at 5,647.60.
Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) were the main movers on the day while Elan was the leading industrial stock. However, other industrials such CRH, Smurfit and Eircom lost value.
Overall, financial shares rose by more than 2 1/2 per cent in heavy trading. But techs continued to lose momentum, reflecting the recent slump and the return to favour of "old economy" stock.
IL&P finished 40 cents stronger at €9.50 while Bank of Ireland gained 35 cents to close at €7.40, finishing the week with an overall gain of 59 cents since Monday. AIB was also well bid, though the share was only five cents stronger on the day, finishing at €10.15.
Meanwhile, Elan rose by €2.41 to finish at €50.74, a new all-time high for the stock which has gained strongly on its US listing. "Elan does distort the index, but it continues to be quite strong," said one dealer.
Printing group Adare rose by 25 cents to close at €8.50, with strong interest in the stock continuing after an announcement on Thursday that members of its management were considering a buy-out. The share closed at €6.73 on Wednesday.
Technology stocks suffered from what one dealer described as "drifty selling". Riverdeep lost €1 to finish at €7 and Horizon finished at €10.90, down €1.10.
Trintech was down almost 17 per cent to $35 on the Nasdaq exchange in New York at the close of business in Dublin. In London, Baltimore continued to lose ground, finishing at £86, down 73p. However, the share was making modest gains on Nasdaq as business closed in Dublin. "It seems to have reached a bit of a bottom," one trader said.
