Smurfit Kappa stock rises as Iseq follows Europe up 1%

Iseq: 2,972.07 (+34.95) Settlement date: February 16th A LATE rally by European stock markets following news that Egypt’s president…

Iseq: 2,972.07 (+34.95) Settlement date: February 16thA LATE rally by European stock markets following news that Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak had resigned, resulted in a strong end to the week for global stock markets.

The trajectory of the Dublin market mirrored market trends further afield, with the Iseq finishing up just over 1 per cent higher at 2,972.

Virtually all of the main names finished in positive territory.

Smurfit Kappa continued to be the focus of investor attention yesterday, bringing to a close a strong week for the packaging giant, which announced details of a 25 million share placing on Thursday.

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It was one of the most actively traded shares. While it did not repeat the strong gains of the previous session, it did finish fractionally higher at just over €9.

Despite Moody’s downgrading of unguaranteed senior unsecured Irish bank debt, financial stocks performed well.

Bank of Ireland, which was one of the most active stocks, climbed almost 7 per cent to €0.38. AIB added 4 per cent to €0.28, while Irish Life and Permanent, which announced details of a mortgage interest rate increase on Thursday, also added 4 per cent to €0.97.

The exchange’s two airline stocks made gains, as oil prices fell as concern about Egypt subsided. Ryanair added 0.6 per cent to €3.63 while Aer Lingus rose 1.7 per cent to just under €1.04.

CRH was well bid, gaining 20 cent, or 1.2 per cent to finish the week at €16.69.

There was significant investor interest in exploration company Petroceltic. The ESM-listed stock rose 9.7 per cent to close at €0.17.

Paddy Power dipped, despite winning regulatory approval in Australia over its purchase of the outstanding minority shareholdings in Sportsbet. It shed 0.5 per cent to €29.55.

Suzanne Lynch

Suzanne Lynch

Suzanne Lynch, a former Irish Times journalist, was Washington correspondent and, before that, Europe correspondent