AIB emerged as one of the best-performing banks in Europe today, leapfrogging most of the big names in the sector with a 6 per cent jump.
AIB added 2.5 cent to close today’s session at 42 cent, but brokers struggled to pinpoint anything that might have driven this rise.
Irish Life & Permanent also found favour today, rising more than 3 per cent to €1.60.
However Bank of Ireland moved in the opposite direction, slipping 3 per cent - or two cent - to just over 63 cent.
Outside of the financial sector, cider manufacturer C&C traded up by the bones of 1 per cent, or close to three cent, to €3.06 ahead of the release of its results tomorrow morning.
Last Friday, grain commodities spiked by as much as 10 per cent which will have mixed consequences for Irish agri-food companies. Bloxham stockbrokers noted today that input prices for Aryzta, Kerry and Greencore will inevitably rise as a result of this price shock. “How that is passed on to consumers will be critical for margins,” it said in a morning note.
Both Aryzta and Kerry shed 10.5 and seven cent respectively to close just below €31.50 and €25.33. However Greencore closed up a fraction at €1.19.
Elsewhere, drug manufacturer Elan jumped 3.3 per cent, or about 14 cent, to just over €4.32, on the back of bid speculation in the sector, which a Dublin-based broker stressed was nothing more than “bar room gossip” at the moment.
There was little stock specific news to provide the market with momentum and overall it proved a typical Monday session the Irish market, with volumes very thin across the board. Brokers expect that the start of the US quarterly reporting season this week may provide some inspiration in the days ahead.
Across Europe, the UK's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC40 rose between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent.
Additional reporting - Reuters