Fears that Greece may default and poor volumes hit the Dublin market today, but the Iseq index of Irish shares did not decline as sharply as the main European indeces, most of which gave up gains made during a rally last week.
The Iseq was down 1.63 per cent at 2,456.54 at the close of business. Traders said that the performance was not helped by poor volumes in the stocks that were traded today.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600, which measures leading shares in 18 different markets, was down 2.3 per cent to 224.96 at the close of trade.
In London, the benchmark FTSE 100 was also down over 2 per cent at 5259.56.
Reasonably resilient performances from two key stocks, CRH and Ryanair, helped to cushion the Irish market against the worst of the overall decline in Europe.
Building materials group, CRH was down 2.4 per cent at €11.40 today, but it fared better than some of its European peers, such as Lafarge, which was down 3.4 per cent.
Airline Ryanair actually made a small gain, adding 0.23 per cent to close at €3.023, while rivals such as Easyjet lost ground.
Pharmaceutical developer, Elan, was much the best performer today, gaining 1.71 per cent to close at €7.12.
Dealers said that it is a stock whose fundamentals are unlikely to affected by the ongoing fears over Greek debt and the future of the euro.
Volumes were generally poor, which dealers said was a sign that investors are unwilling to take a position in anything.
Builders' merchant and DIY group, Grafton, shed 3.51 per cent to close at €2.75, a fall that was in line with its sector.
Question marks over how pension liabilities might impact on the Government's plan to sell its stake in Aer Lingus hit the airline's stock, leaving it 7.09 per cent down at 65.5 cent.
