Dublin shares feel knock-on effect of heavy British losses

MARKET REPORT:SHARES IN the Irish market fell yesterday as bad news from the British financial and housing sectors filtered through to Dublin.

As a result, banking and construction stocks on the Iseq came under fresh pressure which helped push the Irish exchange down more than 52 points or about 0.85 per cent to 6,092 on light enough volumes.

Earlier in the day, shares in British housebuilder Persimmon fell 9.1 per cent after it said sales in 2008 were down 24 per cent year on year and it expected the market to become "more challenging" given buyers' concerns about the credit crisis.

This had a knock-on effect on construction stocks in Dublin. Among the hardest hit was McInerney, which has significant UK operaiton. It was down nearly 8 per cent at €0.93 with nearly 370,000 shares changing hands. Kingspan also took a hammering as it shed 51 cent to €7.54 with about 700,000 shares traded.

Royal Bank of Scotland's announcement of a £12 billion (€15 billion) rights issue on Wednesday was followed by further bad news from European banks yesterday. In the UK, Barclays fell 2.4 per cent as the bank said profits in the first quarter fell from a year earlier after its investment bank and fund management arms were hit by tough financial market conditions.

Credit Suisse announced 5.3 billion Swiss francs in credit-related writedowns in the first quarter, causing a bigger than expected loss.

The Dublin market suffered the spillover effects. Among the financials, FBD dropped back 85 cent to €30.90 on very thin volumes, AIB slipped seven cent to €13.07, while Irish Life & Permanent was 26 cent off at €10.84. Bank of Ireland shed nine cent to €8.89.

Despite narrowing first-quarter operating losses to $45.6 million, Elan dropped 18 cent to €16.10.