Iseq flat after quiet day's trading

The Iseq index of Irish shares ended flat after a largely quiet day’s trading in Dublin during which the banks were the focus of most of the activity.

The closed 0.14 per cent off at 3,310.01, a fall of 4.56 points. The performance was largely in line with the rest of Europe.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600, which tracks key stocks in 18 western European markets, was down 0.2 per cent 239.48 ahead of the close this afternoon as investors acknowledged that there was a danger that the markets have over-reacted to recent positive economic data.

In London, the benchmark FTSE 100 was up a little more than half of one per cent at 5082.2.

The two bigger banks recovered ground today after slipping yesterday. Bank of Ireland added 3.05 per cent to close at €3.04, bringing back over the €3-mark below which it dropped on Thursday.

Dealers said that AIB traded around €3.20 for most of the day and closed 1.57 per cent up at €3.24. Traders reported that volumes in both banks were reasonable today.

The market’s biggest stock, building materials giant CRH, dropped 1.12 per cent to €18.802.

Packaging group, Smurfit Kappa shed 4.29 per cent to close at €5.36. Dealers pointed out that the stock has had a very good run in recent months and said that there was an element of profit taking in yesterday’s fall.

Low-cost airline, Ryanair, was down 1.52 per cent at €3.434, while Aer Lingus, in which it is a major shareholder, dropped 3.85 per cent to end the day at 75 cent.