Rise in banking stocks offset CRH fall

The Iseq finished slightly higher this evening, as a rise in banking stocks helped to offset a fall in Iseq heavyweight CRH. The construction giant slipped for the third consecutive day, after a strong rally last week.

Nerves about the US economy weighed on sentiment, as markets awaited an announcement by the Federal Reserve later today at which the Fed was expected to signal that it may be considering an exit from its stimulus strategy.

Almost 50 per cent of CRH’s revenues are generated in the US and the company ended the day 8 cent lower at €19.54. Other construction-related stocks were also down. Building materials group Grafton lost 3 cent to close at €3.67 while insulation provider Kingspan was down 7 at €6.45.

Volumes on banks stocks were low, as investors took stock after last week’s activity in banking shares. The two main banks reversed the losses of the previous session, ending the day in positive territory. AIB closed almost 5 per cent higher at €3.25 while Bank of Ireland advanced almost 3 per cent to end the day at €3.14. Irish Life and Permanent also ended the day higher, closing up almost 3 per cent higher at €5.87.

The volume of shares traded in Ryanair stock was lower than usual ahead of its AGM tomorrow. The share price ended just over 2 per cent higher however.

Independent News & Media advanced 2.8 per cent after the company confirmed that its discussions with banks and bondholders of the Bonds about the restructuring of a €200 million debt which is due for repayment on Friday had ‘advanced significantly’.

C&C continued to attract a lot of interest from investors yesterday with traders reporting good volumes, although the share price closed flat at just over €3.00

In Europe, London’s FTSE reversed earlier gains to finish the day 0.1 per cent lower at 5,139, as the market remained cautious ahead of the conclusion of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting later today

The Paris CAC and the Frankfurt Dax were also down marginally at 3,822 and 5,702 respectively.