ISEQ surges ahead

As concerns over oil shortages eased, the ISEQ index of shares surged ahead by 35.49 points today to close at 5598.47.

Oil prices fell by more than one US dollar a barrel today as OPEC’s president said supplies were growing faster than demand.

“There’s no news to keep prices from falling,” said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant in New York, noting that the market has even shrugged off recent pipeline sabotage in Iraq.

Market news centred on interim results announcements from Jurys Doyle Hotel Group and Kingspan. Each reported profits, though at different levels.

Strong sales of Kingspan products pushed up profits by 32.5% to €37.5m for the first half of 2004, up from €28.3m in the first half of 2003.

Sales of Kingspan products drove the profits increase. Sales jumped 18.5% in Ireland, 11.2% in Britain and Northern Ireland, 30.2% in mainland Europe and 33.6% in the US.

Kingspan made significant gains today, adding 30c to its share price to close at €5.45.

Meanwhile, Jurys Doyle shed 30c from its share price to close at €10.25 despite reporting a rise in pre-tax profits of 1.5% on the same period last year. Before-tax profits were €21.96m, up from €21.64m in the same period last year (six months to end-June). The company's four-star hotels reported a revenues decline, which was offset by the performance of the five-star hotels and Jurys Inn properties.

Most traded stocks today included CRH (up 22 cent to €19.32), Bank of Ireland (up 13c to €11.38) and AIB (up) 17c to €13.35).