Weaker financial stocks, another fall by Eircom following the departure of finance director Malcolm Fallen, and losses by Elan drove the Irish market lower. The market was not helped by directionless European markets and a mixed opening on Wall Street.
The biggest loser on the day was Irish Life which tumbled 60 cents to €10.70 after confirming that it bought back 1,115,000 shares on Monday at €11.25. Irish Life has had a strong run in recent weeks on the back of positive broker comment so a bout of profit-taking is no major surprise.
Other financials were also lower with AIB down 17 cents on €10.76 while Bank of Ireland was down 10 cents on €7.45 in turnover of almost 2.5 million shares. Anglo Irish was the only financial to buck the trend and was three cents firmer on €2.50.
Among industrials, CRH gained 28 cents to €17.96 while Independent was up five cents to €4.30 as Capital disclosed that it now owns 36.3 million shares or 7.02 per cent. This means that Capital has bought 3.4 million Independent shares in the past four weeks. Eircom dropped eight cents to €2.42 following the announcement of Mr Fallen's resignation while IAWS was eight firmer on €7.20 ahead of full-year results today.
Kerry was 35 cents lower on €14.65 on profit-taking, Smurfit edged two cents higher on €1.94 in heavy turnover of almost 4.6 million shares while Waterford Wedgwood eased one cent to €1.27 as almost a million shares traded.
