Dublin report:It was all doom and gloom again yesterday, said one Dublin dealer as the Iseq index of Irish shares slipped another 0.6 per cent to close at 7,411.16.
While dealers said the negative sentiment stemmed mainly from overseas ahead of expectations that Goldman Sachs was due to report bigger-than-expected losses as a result of the recent problems in credit markets, news that changes were afoot in the makeup of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) indices also prompted some share movement. In fact, news that Anglo Irish Bank is to be included in the index helped its shares buck the negative trend and rise 1.5 per cent, or 16 cent, to close at €10.95.
Smurfit Kappa also had a good day for the same reason, climbing 3.5 per cent, or 45 cent, to end the day at €13.45. Inclusion in the index increases a stock's exposure among overseas investors, analysts said.
Elsewhere things were not so positive, with AIB dropping 3.6 per cent, or 57 cent, to €15.33 and Bank of Ireland losing almost 3 per cent, to close down 34 cent, at €11.10.
Poor housing starts figures weighed on the building and construction sector, with Grafton dropping 4.5 per cent, or 34 cent, to €7.21. Dealers said the negative sentiment was exacerbated by news that Grafton would lose its place in the MSCI index, along with Independent News & Media (IN&M) and C&C.
IN&M fell 3.6 per cent, or almost nine cent, to end the day at €2.37. Volume was high, with as many as 10 million shares changing hands. The company spent €1.4 million buying 600,000 of its own shares.
Grafton too bought back a further 600,000 shares at a cost of €4.3 million.
Shares in C&C fell 2.1 per cent, or 11 cent, to €5.05.
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