Difficult day for CRH as Iseq falls back

Dublin report:For the second day running, CRH put in one of the weakest performances on the Irish market yesterday, dropping by €1 to €34.90.

Traders said that the stock came under severe pressure as a result of figures released on Thursday night by Mexican cement producer Cemex, which reflected weakness in the US market. This was compounded by disappointing results from Caterpillar.

Meanwhile, McInerney Holdings finished the week on a positive note, trading up by a further 2.58 per cent, or 6 cent, to hit €2.39. Speculation of a management buy-out continued yesterday, although one trader described the rumours as little more than "Chinese whispers".

The market reacted very favourably to DCC's annual general meeting statement yesterday that it was upgrading its growth guidance in addition to its announcement that it has acquired a major British fuel supplier, CPL Petroleum. It gained 19 cent on the back of this news, to close the day at €23.35.

The weather may not have improved since C&C's warning last Friday that cider sales had been affected by the poor summer, but the stock nevertheless rebounded quite strongly yesterday, gaining 2.7 per cent, or 23 cent, to €8.74.

Although Independent News & Media is maintaining its share buyback programme, the stock had a dismal day's trading, dropping by 6.5 per cent to €3.31.

It was a day of two halves for the banking sector, according to one trader, with the banks trading up in the morning only to find themselves sold off once the Dow Jones opened.

Anglo Irish Bank slipped by 1.82 per cent, or 27 cent, to €14.55, while Allied Irish Bank dropped 25 cent to €20.05 and Bank of Ireland finished the day down 17 cent at €14.93.