The market might have been pretty pleased with the half-year figures from CRH - profits and earnings were ahead of forecasts - but the decision to raise money by placing 5 per cent of new equity took the steam out of the CRH share price.
Trading in the shares was minuscule but they still fell €1.09 to €18.75. Given previous fundraising, CRH should still be able to get the placing away at a very productive discount to the price in the market and dealers believe the bookbuilding should produce a placing price with a discount of under 5 per cent.
The biggest turnover of the day was in Anglo Irish which jumped another eight cents to €2.40 with more than 3.6 million shares trading. Most financials were firmer with Bank of Ireland up 30 cents to €7 in turnover of 2.8 million shares while AIB gained 13 cents to €9.70.
Global profit-taking in telecoms, media and technology - the so-called TMT sector - saw Eircom lost two cents of its recent
gains to close on €2.53 while profit-taking continued to affect Kerry which fell 15 cents to €14.50 in small turnover. Independent was 10 cents firmer on €4.10 ahead of today's interims, Smurfit lost five cents to €2.16 while Horizon fell €1 to close on €10.
Technology shares lost some of their recent gains as the profit-takers moved into the TMT stocks. Trintech fell €4.20 on the Neuer Markt to €35 while Baltimore - whose FTSE-100 return will be confirmed today - hit a low of £7.97 sterling before closing down 21p on the day on £8.79.
