The Iseq index celebrated St Patrick's Day by advancing 2.5 per cent today, although the gains were less to do with parade-happy investors and more to do with the Federal Reserve's pledge to maintain record low borrowing costs in the US for an extended period in order to safeguard its economic recovery.
The Fed's pledge pushed stock markets across Europe to a 17-month high, with the positive sentiment lifting the Irish financial stocks. After a relatively healthy recent run of trading, AIB rose 8.7 per cent to €1.58, up 12 cent, while Bank of Ireland climbed 7.6 per cent to €1.33, up 9 cent on the day.
There were buyers interested in the stock of both banks during the session, which attracted reasonable trading volumes despite the local holiday.
Strong numbers on US highway spending during the month of February were released after the close of markets yesterday, having a positive knock-on effect on the share price of building materials group CRH.
The company, which is heavily exposed to the US construction market, rose 4.8 per cent to €18.75, up 86 cent. As CRH is the largest component stock on the index, this helped push the Iseq into positive territory.
Exploration company Aminex rose 10 per cent to 16 cent, up 1 cent on the day, after it announced that its drilling in Louisiana had been successful.
All eyes are on bookmaking stock Paddy Power this week as the Cheltenham Festival continues. With few favourites winning and some races seeing none of the favourites placed, the bookmakers' are having a good Cheltenham, one Dublin-based equities dealer noted. There was reasonable buying support for the stock throughout the day.
Independent News & Media sank further, although a deal to sell the London Independent titles is now thought to be imminent.
Ryanair, McInerney and Kingspan were also among the fallers on a day when most stocks managed to finish with green tickers next to their names, indicating that they had made gains.
