Markets enjoy positive day’s trading

European and US markets had another positive day yesterday, as bourses on both sides of the Atlantic made headway.

Both the ECB and Bank of England had rates meetings on the day with the BoE holding fire and maintaining their base rate at 0.5%. ECB president Mario Draghi acknowledged that a possible cut to the Eurozone rate had been discussed by the governing council, however he said the prevailing consensus was to leave rates unchanged at 0.75%. The Iseq index gained 2.3 points to close at 3828.3.

Irish banks were mixed on the day. AIB shed 0.1c to 6.4c while Permanent TSB Group was 0.1c ahead at 3.6c. Bank of Ireland continued to advance, the stock gaining 2.1% to 14.6c. Irish insurer FBD Holdings added 9.5c to 12.395.

The construction sector was also mixed on the day. CRH and Kingspan were both in positive territory, the former gained 23.5c to 16.98 while the latter added 15.1c to 9.531. Grafton Group was a laggard on the day as the company announced full-year 2012 results. Headline figures included better than expected operating profit figures. The stock finished off 0.2c at 4.83, having traded over 5.00 during the session.

Fyffes Plc also announced 2012 results yesterday, with the stock moving on ca. 5.9% or 3.5c to 63.5c.