Main banks finish down

The Moody's downgrade on Irish sovereign debt from BAA1 to BAA3 and the continuation of a negative outlook appeared, on the face of it, to have affected the banks today.

Bank of Ireland finished down 4.3 per cent on €0.27, and Allied Irish Bank fell to €0.23, a 2.08 per cent drop off.

However, not all the banks shared the burden, with Irish Life & Permanent rallying by 14.86 per cent to finish the day at €0.17. One commentator noted the Moody’s downgrade went against that of Fitch, which actually upgraded Ireland’s outlook from negative to stable.

“Two ratings agencies have now put out ratings which take different views so the markets aren’t convinced either way. The agencies are very much coming out after the barn door has closed lately,” the analyst noted.

Meanwhile, the airlines stabilised somewhat after geopolitical factors in Libya and Northern Africa had the affect of driving up oil prices in recent weeks. Ryanair closed at €3.42 up marginally by 0.03 per cent.

Aer Lingus has made a good recovery over the course of the week having had ground to gain following hits over the past few weeks finishing today at €0.81, up 1.25 per cent.

“The airlines have been stronger over the past couple of days due to a little bit of a let-up on the oil prices in the past few days,” one trader noted.

Elsewhere, Elan was in “good shape” and finished up by 1.24 per cent at €5.32 with positive results expected from sister company Biogen Idec next week fuelling its good fortune.

Overall, however, volumes were low and, given that the United Kingdom has already began its mid-term and has two extra two bank holidays due to the royal wedding and Easter, it’s expected it could remain so for the weeks ahead.