Iseq falls back on quiet day

In line with markets around Europe, the Iseq was fairly flat today, falling back by about 1 per cent, or 25.6 points, to close down at 2,958.44, on what was a quiet day.

Bank of Ireland was one of the few stocks to experience heavy trading volumes, but ahead of its results tomorrow it fell back by 2.9 per cent, or 3 cent, to close down at €0.85.

In line with other financial stocks across Europe, both AIB and Irish Life & Permanent were also weak on the day. AIB suffered the worst decline, giving up 6 cent, or 6.5 per cent, to close down at €0.87, while IL&P was also down, falling by 5 cent, or 2.6 per cent.

However, volumes in the stocks were light, and according to one analyst, you would be “clutching at straws trying to rationalise such moves”.

Elsewhere Smurfit Kappa closed down by 38 cent, or 4.6 per cent at €7.84, with analysts attributing some of the slide to profit-taking ahead of its half-year results tomorrow.

CRH was a little weaker on the day, although it did out-perform its peers around Europe. It fell back by 19 cent, or 1.2 per cent, to close down at €16.20.

Following on from its weaker than expected trading statement last week, C&C was again weak on the day, giving up 2 cent, or 0.7 per cent, to finish the day at €3.14.

Elan was a strong performer early in the day, rising on the back of its announcement that it wouldn’t be spinning off its drug delivery business and that it would be restructuring its debt. However, it gave up its gains in the afternoon, closing flat at €4.05.

Although shares in UK travel operator TUI fell back sharply on the back of its results yesterday, Irish airlines nonetheless performed reasonably well.

Ryanair lost 6 cent, or 1.4 per cent, to close down at €3.90, while Aer Lingus finished the day down by 1 per cent at €0.97.

Around Europe, markets were weak, with the FTSE 100 down by 34.11 points, or 0.6 per cent in London. In Paris, the CAC 40 declined by 1.2 per cent, while in Frankfurt, the DAX fell back by 1 per cent.