The Iseq ended 0.33 per cent lower today in what was a pretty poor day for the Irish market. One trader described Ireland as the “loser” among the markets while another simply said that the country had “gotten left behind” while European and global markets gained ground on the day.
The main banks did advance, although not spectacularly according to traders. Bank of Ireland was in reasonably strong demand with 3.8 million shares crossing in one trade alone. It finished up by 2.1 per cent at €1.70.
AIB closed at €1.73, an increase of 3 per cent over the course of the day although activity was "quite muted" according to one commentator. Meanwhile Irish Life & Permanent finished slightly ahead, adding 0.7 per cent to €3.424.
Many of the big players had a relatively flat day. Index heavyweight CRH marked time, edging up just two cent to €15.35 while Kerry Group and DCC both closed down at 1.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent on €20.10 and €18.548 respectively. Ryanair also finished down by 0.7 per cent on €2.826 despite airlines globally closing slightly up. Aer Lingus fared worse, shedding 2.2 per cent on 57.6 cent. Smurfit Kappa was also "under a bit of pressure" according to traders finishing down just over 2 per cent at €5.80.
Meanwhile a flurry of US economic data and a rebound in metals prices helped push Britain's top share index to a higher close, with Compass Group topping the blue-chip gainers list after results.
The FTSE 100 closed at 5,364.81 points, up 40.85 or 0.77 per cent.
European stocks closed higher, with pharmaceuticals among the best performers, after a raft of US macro-economic data ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday was mostly positive.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares rose 0.5 per cent to close at 1,021.95 points, having moved as high as 1,026.85 and eased to 1,015.76.
Among drugmakers, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis rose between 0.5 and 2.5 per cent.
In Frankfurt the DAX index ended at 5,803.02 points, up 33.71 or 0.58 percent while in Paris the CAC-40 index closed at 3,809.16 points, up 24.54 or 0.65 per cent.