Iseq falls back in afternoon trading

It was a bearish end to the week for global equity markets, as concern about events in Egypt pushed investors into safer asset classes, while a pick-up in US consumer spending was overshadowed by weaker than expected US GDP figures.

The Iseq managed to slightly outperform its European counterparts, finishing down 22 points.

While volumes were quite strong, the market fell back in afternoon trading after US figures failed to live up to market expectations.

Few stocks ended the week in positive territory. While Aer Lingus enjoyed a bounce initially on the news that the airline had commenced talks with cabin crew, the stock closed down just under 1 per cent at €1.05. Ryanair closed a half a per cent lower at €3.62, ahead of results next week.

Recruitment company CPL was one of the best performers, climbing 5 per cent to €3.10, on the back of good first-half numbers yesterday.

Having performed well of late, building materials giant CRH shed 1.24 per cent, finishing well below the €16.00 mark at €15.82.

Smurfit Kappa also gave up recent gains, with the international packaging company shedding 1.6 per cent to end the week at €8.84.

London-based spread-betting company Worldspreads shed 16 per cent or 10 cent to finish at €0.55, after it said in a trading update that it expects to post a small loss rather than a profit in the year to 31st March 2011, due to a delay in the implementation of opportunities in new international markets.

C and C saw very heavy selling in afternoon trading. Having traded over the €3.50 mark during the day, the drinks group shed a hefty 5.6 per cent, closing at €3.32.

It was a relatively quiet day for the three financial stocks, which all ended the week in negative territory.