The Irish bourse retreated today, as a sharp downgrade of Ireland’s credit rating hit European banking stocks.
Investors took little comfort from the decision by European Union leaders to create a permanent crisis-management mechanism by 2013. Indexes across Europe came under pressure, but the Iseq was amongst the weakest, falling 0.7 per cent.
Bank of Ireland led the sell-off in financials, declining almost 14 per cent to just under 32 cent. The bank announced details of an exchange offer at 4pm, but brokers said this news was already priced into the stock, and the damage had been done earlier in the session.
Irish Life & Permanent was also particularly poor on the day, dipping almost 9 per cent, or nine cent, to 96 cent. AIB emerged relatively unscathed, and closed down just a fraction at 45 cent.
Elsewhere, Ryanair was weak, albeit on thin volumes, slipping two cent to close below €3.74.
Building materials group CRH was strong initially, and almost touched €15.50 at one point. However, it closed at a daily low of €15.21, down 17 cent, or more than 1 per cent.
C&C enjoyed an uplift after UK pub group Punch Taverns released a relatively positive quarterly trading statement. The cider manufacturer gained almost 1 per cent, or 17 cent, to €3.29.
Elsewhere, food stocks Glanbia and Aryzta were also winners on the day, adding more than 2 per cent each to finish at €3.39 and €33.70 respectively.
Across Europe, France's CAC 40 gained 0.3 per cent, the UK's FTSE 100 rose 1 per cent, while Germany's DAX slid 0.3 per cent.
Additional reporting - Bloomberg