Iseq finishes down amid gloomy data

Poor macroeconomic data abounded today, as an increase in unemployment, a tumbling in new home registrations and the Government’s decision to bring forward the Budget, all dragged down the Irish market.

Although the Iseq bounced off its lows from earlier in the day, it still finished the day down, dropping by 82.48 points or 1.8 per cent to 4,521.89. Overall it was a volatile day with low volumes.

Financials followed the European trend of a weak opening, although they managed to claw back most of their losses by the end of the day.

Bank of Ireland nearly recovered fully on the day, closing down just 3 cents or 0.5 per cent to €5.73, while Anglo Irish Bank did likewise, finishing the day down 2 cents or 0.4 per cent to €5.71. AIB however, fell by 21 cents or 2.4 per cent, to €8.70

Star performer on the day was Irish Life & Permanent, which out-performed its peers to climb 25 cents or 3.9 per cent to €6.65. The company is currently on a roadshow, which might be feeding back into the value of the stock.

CRH saw some profit-taking, as it gave up some of its gains from the previous day to drop 30 cents or 1.6 per cent to €18.68.

Grafton declined by 11 cents or 2.9 per cent to fall back to €3.69, while Kingspan added to its previous gains, advancing by 10 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to €8.40.

Paper and packaging firm Smurfit Kappa dropped 36 cents or 7.6 per cent to fall to €4.35 on the back of a poor performance from its UK peer DS Smith.

Despite falling oil prices, Ryanair dropped 11 cents, to fall back by 3.8 per cent to €2.76, while Aer Lingus finished the day up 2 cents, or 1.2 per cent, at €1.65.

It was a choppy morning in New York, as the S&P 500 fell back by 8.67 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 1,268.91 by 11.36 am. Despite a reduction in price of crude oil for a fourth day, technology stocks fell following the publication of Corning Inc.'s reduced earnings estimates.

In London the FTSE 100 lost 2 per cent to fall back to 5,508.9, as fears over the economy worsened, while in Frankfurt, the Dax dropped 0.8 per cent to close at 6,464.11 and in Paris the CAC 40 lost 1.4 per cent to 4,477.37.