Financials steer ISEQ into positive territory

The Irish Stock Exchange is in the black this morning with a 13-point rise to 2,894.47 by 11am.

The financial sector helped the index to the 12.40 point or 0.47% rise with insurance giant FBD Holdings experiencing a 12c increase to stand at €6.90. The AIB also had a good morning with an 11c rise to €1.83 despite reporting a pre-tax loss of €872m for the first six months of this year due to rising losses on bad loans. The bank said it lost more than €1.5bn in its Republic of Ireland operations in the first half of the year, but this was offset by profits made in other areas.

Irish Life and Permanent went up four cents to €3.64 while Bank of Ireland stood at €1.91 after going up three cents.

Aer Lingus stand at €0.48 after a one-cent increase after announcing a British government decision to award it the contract for flying civil servants and other government employees between Belfast and Heathrow.

Elsewhere, the major gains were at shipping group Irish Continental, up 60c to €10.65, and at business services group DCC, up 40c to €15.70. Food giant Kerry Group also had a positive morning after climbing 34c to €17.30.

However, construction rivals CRH and Grafton were in negative territory after falls of 20c and 10c to €18.02 and €3.30 respectively. Another firm in the red were bookmakers Paddy Power who saw thier stock fall 20c to €16.65.