'For sale' sign up on Irish stocks again

Market report:The "for sale" signs went up on Irish stocks again yesterday as subprime woes continued to hit world markets in the form of widespread selling off.

The Iseq index fell 130 points, a drop of 1.68 per cent, after its 2.1 per cent fall on Thursday, with financial stocks again leading the way.

Irish Life & Permanent was the worst performer in the banking sector and fell 5.6 per cent. It shed 84 cent in the process to close at €14.08, with dealers attributing the performance to global sentiment rather than the announcement of changes in its management, with the appointment of new chief executives for Permanent TSB and Irish Life retail.

Bank of Ireland slipped 2.7 per cent to finish down 33 cent at €11.82, while AIB dropped 2.1 per cent to close at €16.35, down 35 cent. Anglo Irish Bank fell 1.3 per cent to €11.13, some 15 cent lower than the previous day's close, with its refinancing announcement also prompting the sell-off.

But it was mostly the contagion from other markets that influenced the Iseq again yesterday, with very little local news floating around. Ryanair had a busy day's trading, with volume of 5.6 million. It managed to close up 3 cent at €5.75, a rise of half a per cent.

Elsewhere, Tullow Oil - the best performer on the FTSE in London yesterday - also had a good day in Dublin, climbing 24 cent to close up 2.6 per cent at €9.23. Builders McInerney shot up 7.25 per cent, a climb of 10 cent, to €1.48.

Food group Greencore added 1 per cent to its share price, but there were falls for packaging group Smurfit Kappa, pharmaceutical group Elan, building materials group CRH and food companies IAWS, C&C and Glanbia.

Settlement day: November 7th