The Irish Stock Exchange ended the week with a poor performance lagging the European markets and closing up just 0.47 per cent to 2429.
Brokers said the market closed flat today primarily because of weak performances by CRH and Ryanair. CRH dropped 0.76 per cent to close at €16.80 while Ryanair recovered 2.6 per cent to end the days trading at €3.40.
However, Aer Lingus bucked this trend and reached €0.73, a healthy gain of 7.3 per cent.
Independent News and Media also had a good day increasing almost 8 per cent to close at €0.25. Grafton Group followed suit rising 8.46 per cent to close on a high at €2.80. Brokers said the group was continuing to benefit from increased levels of interest in the stock over the week.
The financial sector had a largely lacklustre day with Irish Life and Permanent leading the bad news by falling 8.6 per cent to close at €1.60. Bank of Ireland produced an unremarkable performance dipping slightly to €0.66, a decline of 1.49 per cent on the previous day. Allied Irish Bank fared slightly better falling just 0.58 per cent to finish at €0.80.
Meanwhile Smurfit Kappa had a solid day's performance peaking during midday trading to eventually close at €2.10, an increase of 6.3 per cent. Meanwhile Kingspan had a weak days trading falling 0.55 per cent to finish at €3.50. Kerry Group also had an unremarkable performance in the market dropping 1.1 per cent to close at €14.80. However, DCC generated solid results and managed to increase by 3.7 per cent to finish at €13.40.