Another positive day for financial shares

FINANCIAL stocks had a second consecutive positive day’s trading yesterday, boosted by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s comments – on Monday – that the capital requirement issues at the main banks will be fully addressed, one way or the other, during the first three months of this year.

Following respective gains of 15c and 20c on Monday, AIB and Bank of Ireland were up by a further 16c (11.63%) and 1c (0.5%), respectively yesterday. AIB closed at €1.51 and Bank of Ireland reached a price of €1.53 by closing bell. Irish Life & Permanent &followed its 20c gain on Monday with a 2.77%, 10c, loss yesterday to close the day back down at €3.40.

The ISEQ managed to keep its collective head above the 3,000 point mark; albeit dipping slightly by 26 points to close at 3,071 points – representing a slight daily loss of 0.85%. The Dublin market had a poor final quarter to last year, falling by 11.1% between October and the end of December; driven by a tough few months for the banking stocks. However, for 2009 as a whole, the ISEQ was up by 27% – the third consecutive year of overall climbs.