Markets boosted by Greek hope

Improving prospects of Greece getting its second bailout, thus keeping the euro zone intact for the time being, boosted international stock markets yesterday.

A move by China to limit the amount of money its banks must hold in reserve — indicating that the institutions may begin lending more and boost the country’s economy, as a result — also helped investor sentiment.

Entering yesterday’s crunch eurozone finance minister talks in Brussels, optimism was in the air with the likes of IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos talking up the chances of solidifying the eurozone and saving Greece from default through its second bailout in two years. Ireland’s junior finance minister Brian Hayes said it was time to get the issue “over the line“, adding he was confident that would happen.

All major European bourses were up, yesterday — London’s FTSE and Paris’s CAC-40 by nearly 1%; Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid by closer to 2%.

In Dublin, the ISEQ closed up by nearly 1%, driven largely by strong showings from building materials stocks CRH, Kingspan and Grafton. Elsewhere, Bank of Ireland was also up by over 4% on the back of a positive enough set of financial results.

Merrion Pharmaceuticals shed 12.5%, while rising oil prices pulled Ryanair down by 2.4%, and there were contrasting fortunes in the exploration world with Petroceltic up by 17%, Petroneft down by 11%, Ormonde Mining and Tullow Oil up strongly but Providence Resources down marginally.