Iseq: 2,979.22 (+1.72) Settlement date: February 18th:THE IRISH market just about managed to stay in positive territory yesterday, thanks to a buoyant food and beverage sector which counteracted a weak performance by CRH.
Irish agri-food stocks were helped by full year results released yesterday morning by Danone, which were pretty much in line with expectations.
Glanbia put in a decent performance, rising more than 4 per cent, or 16 cent, to close just below €4.20.
Greencore, which yesterday afternoon said it is still considering its options in relation to a possible counter-bid for Northern Foods, was also reasonably strong, adding three cent to €1.22.
Cider manufacturer C&C found itself among the biggest gainers. Though the stock has been relatively volatile in recent sessions, it has remained range-bound between about €3.38 and €3.50. However, yesterday it broke through the upper range to touch €3.53 although it slipped back to €3.47 by the close. This represented a daily gain of over 2 per cent or seven cent.
Kerry Group jumped 20 cent to €26.10 at one point, but slumped in the last hour of trading to finish down 30 cent at €25.60.
CRH, the largest constituent of the Iseq index, covered a lot of ground, moving from a high of €16.53 to a low of just under €16.20. By the closing bell its share price was resting at €16.40, down 13 cent on the day. A trader said there was “nothing untoward” in this dip, as international peers such as Lafarge were also “a little easier”.
Ryanair weakened slightly, falling 2.5 cent to finish at €3.71.
In the banking sector, AIB and Bank of Ireland were only fractionally ahead at 27.8 cent and 37.6 cent respectively. FBD enjoyed a solid day’s trading, moving ahead by about 3.5 per cent, or 25 cent, to €7.45.
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