Irish stocks suffer ups and downs of trade

It was a day of two halves on the Irish Stock Exchange, as stocks opened strongly but fell back sharply in the afternoon.

As US markets quickly fell upon opening on the back of weak jobless numbers, it led to a knock-on effect in markets across Europe and a broad based sell-off in the Irish market in the afternoon. By the end of the day, the Iseq had fallen by 77.11 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 4,444.78.

Smurfit Kappa was the main event of the day, advancing by 23 cent or 5.4 per cent to €4.58, as NCB changed its recommendation on the stock from “hold” to “buy” and a weakening dollar and good results in the US paper and packaging sector gave the stock a lift.

Irish Life & Permanent also performed strongly, as it continues to benefit from consistent interest from investors. It was up 6.5 per cent at one point in the day but fell back in the afternoon to finish the day up 14 cents or 2.1 per cent at €6.79.

Defensive food stocks such as Kerry Group held on to their positions, with Kerry gaining by 16 cents or almost a per cent to reach €19.30.

Elsewhere however, it was mostly bad news.

Apart from Irish Life & Permanent, financials fell back by 3 per cent on average, although they fared better than their UK counterparts. Bank of Ireland fared the worst, giving up 20 cent or 3.5 per cent to close at €5.53, while AIB lost 29 cent or 3.3 per cent to fall back to €8.41. Anglo Irish Bank closed down 13 cent or 2.3 per cent at €5.58.

CRH fell against a very weak sector internationally, dropping by 46 cents or 2.5 per cent to €18.22, while other construction stocks also fell. Kingspan gave up 40 cents or almost 5 per cent to fall back to €8.00 while Grafton Group was also down on the day, declining by 13 cent or 3.4 per cent to €3.57.

Ryanair declined on the back of a weak global airline sector, and despite the retreat in oil prices, fell by 12 cent or 4.3 per cent to €2.64.

Paddy Power sold off sharply in the afternoon, having held onto its position during morning trading. It closed down 80 cents or 5.4 per cent to €14.15.

In New York, stocks fell on opening for the fourth straight day, due to concerns that the economic downturn is worsening. At 11.08, the S&P 500 had dropped back by 22.58 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,252.40.

In the UK, the Bank of England held interest rates steady at 5 per cent, but with increasing evidence that the UK is heading into a recession, the FTSE 100 fell back by 2.5 per cent or 137.6 points to 5,362, with banks particularly badly hit.

Across Europe, all of the 18 western markets fell, with losses the biggest seen in seven weeks. As the European Central Bank held its refinancing rate steady at 4.25 per cent due to inflation concerns, the CAC 40 fell by 3.2 per cent in Paris, while in Frankfurt the DAX declined by 2.9 per cent.