ISEQ reacts well to euro debt talks
Those talks — with their proposals for more consolidated eurozone governance, constitutional limits on member states’ budget deficits and taxes on financial transactions — did little to lift markets yesterday.
While they did not spark a mass sell-off, the lack of bounce evident from investors, on the back of the crisis talks, was more out of disappointment that they did not yield more adventurous proposals — although items such as eurozone bonds and an expansion of rescue funds were never likely to make the main agenda.
Down for much of the day, London’s FTSE did actually close the day up slightly by half a percent. There was a similar marginal rise in Paris, where the CAC-40 index gained 23 points, or 0.7%, but the other European powerhouse, the DAX in Frankfurt was down by just under 1%.
Here, however, the ISEQ rose by 1.13% after another rollercoaster start to the week.
Yesterday’s jump was driven by strong gains by traditional shining lights such as Paddy Power — which was up by €1.30 — CRH, which gained 11c; healthcare services specialist, Icon (gaining 45c); exploration company, Tullow Oil (up by 38c) and food giant, Kerry Group, which jumped by an impressive 81c to €27.35 on the back of a solid set of first half results and a very confident outlook for the rest of the year and beyond. Fellow food group, Aryzta gained another €1.49, but there were falls amongst other food-related Irish stocks.
In contrast, significant slips were experienced by the likes of pharmaceutical company, Elan; support services group, DCC and the paper/packaging specialist, Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG).
Elsewhere, there was a similarly downbeat nature to Wednesday trading. The Dow Jones was down slightly in afternoon trading, while the Nasdaq was down by 0.8%, chiefly on the back of Dell downgrading its revenue outlook.
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