CPL Resources delivered one of the strongest performances on the Dublin market today, as the feelgood factor generated by the recruitment firm’s interim results last week continued to lift its share price.
“They’re generating cash in probably the worst economic conditions they can possibly go through,” one trader said, adding that there was decent interest in CPL again today. The stock added almost 8 per cent, or 17 cent, to close at €2.35.
Another minnow stock TVC Holdings also stormed ahead on the day. The investment holding company jumped by more than 11 per cent, or 6 cent, to 60 cent.
Technology company First Derivatives closed up almost 8 per cent, or 20 cent, at €2.80, on the back of its announcement that it is in talks to buy Cognotec, a Dublin-based technology company that went into receivership last week.
Financials proved to be the weakest sector across Europe, and this weighed somewhat on Irish banks. Irish Life & Permanent was quite weak, falling about 2 per cent, or 6 cent, to €3.10.
Although Bank of Ireland benefited on Tuesday from its announcement of a securities swap, the positive reaction wained today and it slipped by a little over one cent to €1.31. AIB rose fractionally to €1.23.
Even though there haven’t been any huge price movements in the two main bank stocks this week, traders reported a notable pick-up in the level of trading in these names.
The two largest constituents of the Iseq index, CRH and Ryanair, closed pretty much flat at €17.66 and €3.52 respectively, but large cap stock Kerry Group was up almost 3 per cent at €21.61. As a result the Iseq was up 0.4 per cent.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 5,253.15 points, down 30.16 or 0.57 per cent. Frankfurt's DAX index ended at 5,672.09 points, down 37.57 or 0.66 per cent, while in Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,793.47 points, down 18.66 or 0.49 per cent.
(Additional reporting - Reuters)