ISEQ makes steady start to week

The ISEQ index of shares held its ground today, slipping back just 1.7 points to 6555.06.

Allied Irish Bank shares recovered from early losses to close up 5c at €17.75. Meanwhile, Anglo Irish was up 13c to €10.43.

The other financials, however, were in the red with Irish Life & Permanent falling 27c to €14.30 and Bank of Ireland falling 2c to €13.48.

Elsewhere shares in Ryanair edged 5c higher to €6.50 today. Ryanair will release traffic data for June this week. In the first two months of the quarter (April and May) volumes grew 28%.

The news also comes as data today revealed no-frills carriers are offering 2.5 million more low-cost seats on flights within Europe in July 2005 compared with July 2004.

UTV shares have climbed 9c higher to €6.94 as speculation ITV is the subject of an approach from Time Warner, Goldman Sachs and Apax Partners.