PIIGS Banks Defying The Market (AIB, IRE, NBG, STD, BBVA)

The markets may be headed lower on Friday morning after a sell-off in China, but the stocks of some of Europe’s troubled banks in the lands of the PIIGS are bucking the trend.  Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) and The Governor and Company of The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) are seeing shares rise in their ADRs and their local shares in Dublin trading.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is so far not sharing the love, although the move is almost negligible.  Its shares are down $0.01 at $2.03 versus a 52-week range of $2.01 to $7.45.

In Spain we are seeing Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) ADRs trade up 2% at $11.75 in active pre-market trading.  Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) saw its shares raised to Neutral from Sell by UBS this morning and its shares are up 3.2% at $11.80 in the pre-market.

As Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) is the biggest risk, it is also up the most.  AIB shares are up 10.6% at $1.04 this morning, after having recently hit a low of $0.76.  The ADRs for the Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) are up over 3% at $2.29 this morning versus a 52-week trading range of $2.16 to $11.48.

Reuters had something from Thursday noting that Irish mortgage arrears are manageable for the time being.  This morning there are reports that Ireland’s bad bank is absorbing a last tranche of loans, at a 58% discount to face value, in a move that would add about 30 billion Euros.  There are expectations that Ireland will have a backstop from the E.U. if it really comes down to it.  How all of these pan out is still work in progress.

JON C. OGG