By Chris Sanders
NEW YORK (Reuters) - S&P 500 stock index futures rose at the start of trade on Sunday after the EU and IMF agreed help to bail out Ireland with loans to tackle the country's banking and budget crisis.
Nervousness about Ireland and the possibility it could lead to bigger problems in the euro zone has weighed on stocks in recent weeks. The resolution of a rescue should lead to short-term gains, analysts said.
Ireland, facing widespread public anger over its handling of the crisis, formally requested the aid on Sunday evening. The rescue is aimed at protecting Europe's wider financial stability.
"Investors will like it," said Richard Sichel, chief investment officer of Philadelphia Trust Co in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "But it doesn't make other problems go away, there will still be concerns out there."
S&P 500 futures rose 6.50 points to trade at 1,204.60.
The rescue is the second this year after the bailout of Greece in May, but will only quell concerns about Europe in the short term, analysts said.
It is still widely feared that Ireland's problems might spread to other members of the euro zone with large budget deficits, such as Spain and Portugal, threatening a systemic crisis.
The euro rose on news of the latest aid plan.
"I don't think markets in general are expecting the issue around not just Ireland, but the euro zone, to go away," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The major stock indexes finished little changed on Friday after China's central bank raised bank reserve requirements for the second time in two weeks, stepping up its fight to rein in prices in a move that could temper growth.
The S&P 500 settled just below 1,200 -- an important psychological level -- and analysts said if the benchmark index fails to break above that mark convincingly, it could trade in a tight range for the rest of the year.
