Iseq finishes flat on quiet day

Iseq:After a relatively busy day yesterday as a result of the government bond auction, the Dublin market returned to typical mid-August activity levels today, with markets extremely quiet. The Iseq ended the session pretty much flat on the day, outperforming other European markets which declined for the first time in five days.

Almost all Irish stocks were weak and ended the day either flat or in negative territory.

The banks took a hit after yesterday's strong performance as concerns about funding eased on the back of the bond auction.

Bank of Ireland closed down 0.9 per cent at just under €0.82. while AIB shed just under a half a per cent to end the session at €0.84. Irish Life and Permanent shed close to 1.5 per cent to close at €1.66.

Paddy Power was the best performer on the day, adding 3 per cent on strong volumes to close at €27.93.

CRH gave up the gains it enjoyed in the previous session, losing 10 cent to close at €15.00 and reverting to its form of late which has seen the stock trade close to book value of late due to a drip-feed of negative industry news from the US. Analysts are looking ahead to next week's interim results for some guidance on the stock.

Elsewhere, Independent News and Media shed over 2 per cent to close at €0.68 after Australian media group APN, in which Independent News & Media has a 32 per cent shareholding posted slightly disappointing results, despite reporting increased revenues.

Airline stocks gave up the gains enjoyed in the previous session.

Aer Lingus shed 2 per cent to close at €0.93, while index-heavyweight Ryanair finished the day slightly under at €3.81.

Overall, analysts noted that the market was muted as investors looked ahead to a host of interim results next week.