Irish stocks eased after being marked up early on the positive performance of Asian markets that followed news that the Chinese government is planning a fiscal stimulus package.
Dealers said volumes were light, with few real buy orders today. “You only seem to get volume when there are a lot of sellers in the market,” one said today.
The Iseq index of Irish shares was up 0.95 per cent at 2,853.45 after the close of business today. At lunchtime, the index was up over 5 per cent on Friday’s close.
Traders said that the low number of buy orders meant that the market weakened throughout the day, despite what looked like a strong start.
Bank of Ireland was down 4.63 per cent at ¤1.545, AIB suffered less, dipping 0.83 per cent at €3.60.
Drinks group, C&C, was the star performer, jumping over 19 per cent to ¤1.37 on the news that former Scottish & Newcastle chief executive, John Dunsmore, is to take over at the helm there.
The picture was similar in London, the FTSE 100 index of leading ended 38.96 points higher at 4,403.92, but was way off its day's high of 4,524.87. Mining stocks, set to benefit from strong raw material demand in China, gave the market its initial spurt.
