Banks move towards positive territory

Market report:The Irish market under performed the rest of Europe again yesterday, falling by one quarter of 1 per cent on a day when other exchanges were up an average of 1.2 per cent. However, dealers said leading stocks, such as the financials, began to claw back some ground after falling during the day.

AIB finished up 13 cent at €20.26 after dipping to €19.93 earlier in the day as close to four million shares were traded in Dublin. Bank of Ireland lost 3 cent to close at €14.62 but came off a low of €14.43. More than 1.7 million shares were sold in the stock during the day. Anglo Irish Bank dipped 5 cent to €14.30 on trades totalling 2.15 million.

Building materials group CRH, which was hit during the week, made up ground, closing 19 cent up at €36.73 on volumes of around 700,000 shares.

Grafton Group released a positive statement saying turnover in the first six months was up 12.5 per cent at €1.6 billion. However, investors were wary because the second half of the year is likely to be more uncertain for the DIY and builders' merchants group, as construction activity is weakening. The stock dropped 61 cent or 5.78 per cent to close at €9.94, after investors sold more than 2.25 million shares. Negative sentiment dogged Irish and UK-focused house builder Abbey, which produced full-year results showing profits down 3 per cent at €45.4 million. It shed 20 cent to close at €9.80.

Another construction-related share, Kingspan, lost 64 cent to close at €19.06 on trades totalling 1.76 million shares.

One of the big winners yesterday was IAWS, which a number of brokers' analysts yesterday recommended as a buy.

Settlement day: July 17th