Financials suffer after slippage in quiet trading

DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,795.04 (-20.44) Settlement Date:September 17th

FINANCIALS BORE the brunt as the market slipped slightly yesterday in fairly quiet trading.

Ryanair, which has seen healthy demand from buyers ahead of its ex-dividend date today, was again one of the busier stocks with 1.45 million shares changing hands in Dublin. The stock added 2½ cents to break through the €4 barrier and close on €4.015. Aer Lingus moved the other way, shedding a cent to end the day on 97 cents.

The main interest however was in the banks. AIB gave up some of the gains made on Monday on the back of its Polish deal with Santander and general Basel III uplift. The stock slipped 3.6 cents, or almost 5 per cent, to 74.7 cents in what were muted volumes.

Bank of Ireland which saw Standard & Poor’s lower its outlook – although importantly not its rating – over concern for the bank’s prospects for recovery in a struggling economy despite what the agency said was good progress in its restructuring programme. Bank shares dipped almost 3 cents, or over 4 per cent, to 69 cent.

Irish Life & Permanent, which was the strongest financial performer on Monday, fared slightly better, giving up 4 cents, or 2.36 per cent, to end the session at close to 67½ cents.

CRH also struggled to make headway, closing 25 cents, or 1.8 per cent softer, on €13.20½.

Turning to the good news, Donegal Creameries continued to gain ground after stronger-than-expected interim figures at the end of last week. The stock added 10 cents to €3.80.

Biotech group Elan also moved ahead, adding 9.7 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to €3.78 ahead of a crunch meeting of directors today.

Financial software group Norkom, having lost almost a quarter of its value on Monday after issuing a profit warning, slid a further 15.8 per cent to close on 80 cents.