Markets globally were “pretty soggy” today, one broker said, on “chatter” of potential credit tightening by China to cool its economy. Volumes were extremely light across the board, however.
In Dublin, the Iseq index was down just over 1 per cent, with the result that it underperformed most of its European peers.
The index came under pressure as its two biggest components CRH and Ryanair slipped by almost 2 per cent each to €17.74 and €3.43 respectively.
Elsewhere, the Irish banks saw some profit-taking today. AIB was off more than 3 per cent - almost 5 cent - at €1.40, while Bank of Ireland was down 1.6 per cent - or 2 cent - at €1.21. Irish Life & Permanent's share price also took a hit, falling 3.6 per cent - almost 12 cent - to €3.16.
Bakery stock Aryzta was one of the few names that managed to buck the downward trend today. The stock gained almost 2 per cent, or 55 cent, to close at €28.70 on the back of good interim results and unchanged guidance coming from management earlier today.
Paddy Power was also a winner on the day, rising by almost 3 per cent, or 65 cent, to €23.40 in advance of Cheltenham racing festival which kicks off on Tuesday.
Insulation group Kingspan also ended the session in positive territory, up about 1.5 per cent, or 9 cent, at just under €6.02.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 ended the day 0.6 per cent lower, while France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX fell 0.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.