Slight upturn follows ECB statement
Mario Draghi announced that the ECB is preparing a new bond-buying programme and that the bank is to make detailed preparations to intervene in sovereign bond markets to lower borrowing costs for some eurozone states. Interest rates remained unchanged but further economic uncertainty ahead is predicted. The benchmark index of Irish shares gained 4.17 to 3147.7.
Financial stocks again had mixed fortunes, with Bank of Ireland declining by 0.4c to 9.6c. AIB was ahead by 0.3c to 5.3c, while Permanent TSB Group Holdings was also a laggard, falling 0.6c to 2.3c.
In construction, CRH eased back 5c to €14.725, Kingspan lost 12c to €6.58, while Grafton gave up 6.6c to €2.81.
Elsewhere, bookmaker Paddy Power jumped 98c to €54.97 as Ladbrokes reported interim results for the six months ended Jun 30 which were slightly ahead of analyst expectations.
