ISEQ soars after recent turmoil

The value of Irish shares rocketed by more than 3% today, as the ISEQ index saw an amazing 256.58 points to 8240.37.

The financials reflected the overall market trend, with Anglo Irish Bank leading the way, climbing an impressive 94c to €13.95. Irish Life & Permanent was not further behind, gaining 81c to €17.00. Allied Irish Bank (up 64c to €17.93) and Bank of Ireland (up 46c to €13.56) also had strong showings.

The construction sector recovered well from its recent malaise, with Kingspan inspiring widespread confidence, jumping 82c to €16.56. CRH put recent bad results into context with an 80c boost to €29.15. Grafton (up 25c to €8.45) also did well.

It was the most positive day in months for the index, with big gains spread across the Exchange. Both DCC and Elan enjoyed 39c gains to finish on 21.64 and €15.10 respectively.

The biggest gain of the day came for FBD, regaining an incredible €1.20 to finish on €23.20.

Other significant gains came for C&C (up 32c to €6.40), Dragon Oil (up 24c to €3.58) and CPL (up 20c to €5.30).

It was not all good news however. The biggest loss of the day occurred for Paddy Power, who shed 41c to €24.49. Kerry Group have had better days, sliding 30c to €20.97. Iona Technologies and Trinity Biotech both lost 10c to finish at €2.47 and €1.84 respectively.