Big players are focus of most activity as Iseq dips

Iseq: 6,097.88 (-22.68) Settlement date: June 4thTHE IRISH market's large stocks were the focus of most activity yesterday, but much of it was selling, as Dublin ended the day slightly down.

Dealers said today's shake up of the benchmark Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index, which will see Anglo Irish Bank joining it and food group Greencore exiting, was a factor in some of the activity yesterday.

The index is being reweighted. It is a benchmark for fund managers who want to track the performance of stocks in developed markets and being included should boost a stock's value.

However, Anglo lost ground yesterday as investors grew wary of Irish and British banks. It dropped 30.5 cent to close at €8.52

Bank of Ireland was flat, closing level at €8.07, with over two million shares traded. AIB made a little ground, closing 16 cent up at €12.946. Investors bought just more than one million shares in the bank, increasing its value by just 0.12 per cent.

Dealers said a lukewarm response to Royal Bank of Scotland's £4 billion firesale of assets was hitting sentiment towards the sector generally. They also said that reports that the Government may cut back on its planned infrastructure spending hit building materials group, CRH.

It dropped 26.7 cent to close at €23.583, a fall of 1.12 per cent. Traders said that most of the business was done at €23.60.

Packaging group Smurfit Kappa endured another torrid day, despite reports that prices are holding up in its sector. Its price plunged by 4.11 per cent to €6.30.

Dealers said persistent selling forced the 27 cent fall. However, they pointed out that the shares traded largely around €6.45 for most of the day.

Another oil price spike had the by now predictable impact on Ryanair, which dropped 10 cent to €27.83, a fall of 3.53 per cent.