Iseq maintains its downward direction

Dublin reportThe Iseq maintained its downward trend in line with other international stock exchanges yesterday, with markets on both sides of the Atlantic nervous about data emanating from the US about the sub-prime mortgage market there writes,  Ciaran Brennan

The overall index of Irish shares slipped back 44.85 points to close the day at 9,107.92.

As has become usual, financial stocks were among the losers, although good two-way trading ensured that the falls in the banks were not as severe in the past week. Anglo Irish Bank, which has virtually no exposure to the residential property market, was the hardest hit. It dropped back 1.23 per cent, or 18 cent, to close at €14.50.

AIB and Bank of Ireland were also under pressure. AIB saw 7 cent knocked off its share price to finish at €20.20, while Bank of Ireland was 3 cent weaker at €14.97. FBD was down 20 cent at €28.80. However, Irish Life & Permanent managed to buck the trend as it tacked on 4 cent to end the day at €18.28.

The industrial stocks enjoyed a mixed day. McInerney bounced back in a day which saw it pick up 20 cent to €2.15. However, CRH gave up a bit a ground, with a few sellers in the stock driving it down more than one and a half per cent to €36.246.

C&C, which last week issued a profit warning, was also under pressure. Bad weather in its core Irish and British markets, along with increased competition, is still hitting the share price which slipped back 5 cent to €8.25.

There was a big volume traded in Blackrock's shares and it ended 2 per cent up at €0.51.

Elsewhere, Kerry was 6 cent stronger at €20.76. Independent News & Media announced yesterday it has purchased 6,500,000 of its own shares. The price paid for these shares was €3.65 per share. It was up 1 cent at €3.57.