Irish market little changed on a quiet day

Markets were subdued across the board yesterday, with UK stocks falling on the back of poor earnings from HSBC and European stocks little changed. In Dublin, the stock exchange stayed open despite bank holiday, but volumes were quiet.

DUBLIN
The Irish market may have been open yesterday, but according to one Dublin broker "it didn't feel like it".

Trading volumes were low, with the Iseq closing almost flat on the day, up a touch by 0.08 per cent, at 4,209.57.

Volumes in food stock Kerry Group were average however, and it traded lower into the close. It finished the day down by 72 points, or 1.5 per cent, at €46.35, on no newsflow.

There was also a bit of volume in Glanbia, and it added 4 cent, or 0.4 per cent to edge up slightly to €10.00.

Bank of Ireland also saw a flutter of trading, but traded down by 1.6 per cent at €0.18. C&C was another mover on the day, giving up 2 cent, or 05. per cent, to finish down at €4.11.

Index heavyweight CRH was in better form, adding 17 cent, or 1 per cent, to climb to €16.61.

LONDON
UK stocks fell for a second day as HSBC reported worse -than-estimated earnings, dragging the FTSE 100 down. It slid by 28.29 points, or 0.4 per cent, to close down at 6,619.58.

HSBC slid 4.4 per cent to 721.7 pence, its biggest drop since November 2011, as Europe's largest lender reported first-half net income of $10.28 billion, trailing the $10.57 billion median estimate of analysts.

A measure of London-listed banks posted the worst performance among industry groups on the FTSE 350. Royal Bank of Scotland Group lost 1.6 per cent to 317.4 pence as Societe Generale downgraded the shares to sell from hold, citing disappointing results. Britain's biggest publicly owned lender, which may shed some businesses under a government proposal, said last week first-half operating profit at the businesses it plans to retain fell 17 per cent.

Lloyds advanced 2.7 per cent to 75.69 pence. Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said at an investor roadshow that he plans to pay between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of the lender's earnings in dividends by 2015. Lloyds last week said it returned to half-yearly profit and that it will start talks with regulators to resume dividend payments.

EUROPE
European stocks were little changed as euro-area services output shrank at a slower pace than initially estimated. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 per cent to 304.77, paring an earlier gain of as much as 0.6 per cent. In Paris, the CAC 40 tracked the performance of the Stoxx Europe 600, also advancing by 0.2 per cent, but in Frankfurt, the DAX closed down by 0.1 per cent.

PostNL NV, the biggest Dutch postal operator, plunged the most in six months after sales missed estimates. It sank 10 per cent to €2.50, the biggest decline since January 14th, after the Amsterdam-based company said sales in the second-quarter were €1.03 billion, falling short of the €1.04 billion predicted by analysts. Mediaset rose 4.4 per cent to €3.45 as Deutsche Bank analyst Laurie Davison upgraded the broadcaster controlled by Silvio Berlusconi to buy from hold, saying pullbacks in the share price offer attractive entry points.

US
US stocks fell, after the S&P's 500 Index climbed to a record high last week, as Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president Richard Fisher said the central bank is closer to slowing its monthly bond buying.

The Fed’s Fisher, one of the most vocal critics of quantitative easing, warned investors not to rely on the central bank’s $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.

Qualcomm dropped 1.3 per cent to $65.86 in mid-afternoon, as Piper Jaffray cut its rating on the largest seller of semiconductors for mobile phones to neutral from overweight, citing weaker demand for the parts used in the most expensive smartphones. – (Additional reporting Bloomberg)