BANKS AND BUILDERS LEAD ISEQ BOUNCE - Yesterday the ISEQ closed up 261 points to close at 8,245, adding around €3.2 billion to its value. That was the sixth consecutive day of gains, though the ISEQ is still some way off its high of 10,000.
Head of research at Goodbody Stockbrokers, Joe Gill, said the Dublin rise can be traced back to the US Federal Reserve's half-point interest rate cut last month.
He said the cut had benefited US markets, which was having a knock-on effect on Dublin.
Mr Gill said banking and building stocks had led the recovery in Dublin, having been hit hardest by the credit crunch. He said financial stocks had been lifted as investment banks have now revealed the extent of their losses from the credit crisis. This had led to a belief that 'a line had been drawn' around the crisis.
The analyst pointed out that the ISEQ was down 13-14% for the year as a whole, but institutional investors - domestic and international - had been putting money into Irish stocks in recent weeks.
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NEWS AND CURRENCIES - The private equity business called JC Flowers is interested in troubled UK mortgage bank Northern Rock and has secured the funding. The private equity group is reported to have secured about £15 billion which could be used for a takeover.
The Financial Times said most bidders who had expressed interest in buying part or all of Northern Rock had given up, and that only JC Flowers and the hedge fund Cerberus were thought still to be interested.
Motor manufacturer Ford sold 190,000 vehicles in the US in September. That is 21% less than at the same time last year, and considerably worse than the 4% predicted in the markets.
The euro is worth $1.4177 and 69.45p sterling.
