Investors left with €7bn loss for week

Market Report:Irish stocks failed to dent heavy losses in a "rollercoaster" day's trading that rounded off a turbulent week for investors.

The Iseq index of Irish shares dropped another 49.25 points to close at 9,381.82, leaving investors in the Dublin market with a €7 billion loss for the week.

Dealers said the market opened positively amid positive vibes about US futures, but rapidly moved into negative territory.

At one point the market was nursing a 1.44 per cent session fall before coming back late on, providing some stocks with a lift.

"It was what you'd call a rollercoaster day," one dealer said.

Bank of Ireland clawed back some ground, closing 10 cent up at €15.30 after just shy of 3.5 million shares changed hands.

Among the rest of the financials, AIB and Anglo Irish Bank dipped further. Allied closed 13 cent off at €21.17 on trades totalling more than four million shares. Anglo shed 28 cent to end the day at €16.35 after investors sold close to five million units.

However, dealers said that the financials all finished "off their lows", and pointed out that there was less heavy selling than earlier in the week.

Drinks and snacks group C&C ended the day three cent ahead at €11.20 on healthy volumes of 1.5 million shares. Greencore, also made headway, ending the day six cent up at €5.03. It is understood Bank of Ireland Asset Management has exited the stock, but other investors clearly have an appetite for the group, and snapped up over 1.1 million units. Kerry, remained weak, as did Irish Life & Permanent.

While the company made no announcement, there was some indication that Ryanair began its share buyback yesterday. More than 15 million units changed hands as the stock closed 12 cent down at €4.86.