Markets rally on Draghi details

European markets rallied yesterday after ECB president Mario Draghi announced details of the bank’s plan to launch a new, potentially unlimited bond-buying programme to assist struggling eurozone countries in tackling their borrowing costs.

He also left interest rates unchanged at 0.75%. The Iseq Index jumped 53 points to 3,226.9 as a result.

In the financial sector, the main banking stocks were virtually unchanged, with the exception of Bank of Ireland which added 0.6c to 9.3c. AIB and Permanent TSB Group finished at 5c and 2.5c.

Construction stocks all ended in positive territory with CRH advancing 39c to €14.44. Grafton Group climbed 17.5c to €3.32 and Kingspan rose 18.9c to €8.01.

Elsewhere, pharmaceutical company United Drug gained 4c to €2.64 after formally confirming its intention to seek inclusion in the FTSE UK Index series and to delist from the Irish Stock Exchange on Oct 3.

Meanwhile, CPL Resources climbed 15c to €3.25 after reporting financial year 2012 results with revenues of €290.2m which were slightly ahead of expectations.