Financials continue to weigh on Iseq

Dublin report:The bank holiday meant it was another day of light trading on the Dublin market yesterday.

The market opened weakly as it took on board the sharp pull-back on Wall Street on Friday which was related to concerns about the credit market and the US Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates today.

Although other European markets recovered later in the day, the heavy weighting of the Irish market towards financial stocks meant it did not come back as strongly. The overall Iseq index was down 1.43 per cent to 8,472.48.

Anglo Irish Bank was the most liquid of the local financials with more than two million shares changing hands.

However, any gains were erased by the end of the day when it closed at €13.65, down 1.3 per cent.

Weekend reports that Irish Life & Permanent's Permanent TSB unit, the State's largest mortgage lender, was suffering in the slowing lending market, had no impact on the stock price. It ended the day up three cent at €18.05.

Volumes in AIB were comparatively light and it fell four cent to close at €19. Traders said that, with the bank going ex-dividend tomorrow, many stockholders are reluctant to sell at this point.

Fyffes fell three cent, or 3.61 per cent to €0.80. One trader said this was largely due to the knock-on effects of disappointing second-quarter results from US-based Chiquita last week, which has affected all fruit-related stocks.

Drinks group C&C recovered some ground after the poor performance of late. Traders said weekend media reports probably helped interest. More than 3.5 million shares were traded as C&C gained 30 cent to €6.50.

Because of the holiday, there was no company news of note.