Financials lead the way

Financial stock led the way on Wednesday, with the biggest mover being Irish Life and Permanent.

It saw its share price increase 50c to €13.55 after predicting that the Irish pensions market would continue to grow as PRSA’s made their presence felt in the market.

Strong demand for pension products would help boost earnings while it also forecast that mortgage demand would continue to be high in 2004 also.

AIB was up 45c to €13.74. Earlier Ark Life - its life assurance and pensions arm - reported sales of €103.7m in 2003.

Anglo Irish Bank ended the day up 35c at €13.20 with almost one million shares being traded in the morning session alone.

Not to be outdone, Bank of Ireland was up 43c to €11.80.

Pharmaceutical stock performed well with Elan up 15c to €6.47 while Galen rose 19c to €10.83.

Paddy Power was up 13c to €7.63 while low fares airline Ryanair saw shares rise 22c to €7.10.

Analysts believe there is an underlying growth trend in European air travel with latest passenger data from Germany and the UK lending weight to this theory.

While long-haul flying is a component of increased passenger numbers, services provided by low fare short-hop operators are driving the momentum, they believe.