Smurfit and Paddy Power up on day of slow trading

DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq:3,293.92 (+ 27.41) Settlement date:October 22nd

THE DUBLIN market remained flat yesterday, in contrast with most of its counterparts in Europe.

Traders put the lack of activity down to a number of factors. They said bank shares were marking time to see what is going to happen next in terms of rights issues, and that other share prices were being affected by the euro-sterling exchange rate.

The exceptions to the rule were Smurfit Kappa, which climbed 5 per cent, probably as a result of a supportive note from Davy on the stock, increasing the price target to €10, and Paddy Power,which rose 4.5 per cent during the day, largely as a result of positive peer sentiment.

Smurfit Kappa closed the day at €6.19. Paddy Power, on the back of strong results and an upbeat outlook statement from William Hill, ended the day at €23.22, an increase of 3.8 per cent.

The two main banks, AIBand Bank of Ireland, were pretty flat over the session, with traders saying the stocks were taking a breather after recent price rises.

Bank of Ireland closed at €2.63, a drop of 1.86 per cent.

AIB closed at €2.70, a drop of 0.93 per cent.

Irish Life & Permanenthad some volume, finishing at €5.75, an increase of 2.13 per cent.

Index heavyweight CRHclimbed by 1.43 per cent, to close at €19.77.

C&Cclosed at €2.72, an increase of 2.64 per cent. Traders said they believed investors felt the stock was a comfortable price to buy in on. DCCclosed at €18, a fall of 3.43 per cent.

On the food stocks, there was a bit of volume in Kerry Groupwhich closed at €19.85, an increase of 1 per cent.

There wasn't much interest in the airlines, with Aer Lingusclosing at €0.73, a rise of 1.38 per cent, while Ryanairwas up 0.3 per cent, at €3.4.