Market Report

Irish shares clawed back earlier losses in the afternoon but still ended nearly one per cent lower, hit again by weakness in the financial sector.

Dealers said programme selling in recent days had knocked some of the leaders while buyers remained cautious, particularly ahead of the September 11th anniversary.

Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent bore the brunt of the selling yesterday. The former closed 18 cents, or 1.7 per cent, lower at €10.72 with some eight million shares traded between Dublin and London.

Irish Life & Permanent lost further ground in the wake of its first-half results, finishing 23 cents weaker at €11.95.

AIB had a bit of a rollercoaster day, trading in a range from €11.81 to €12.49 but it finished higher, supported by expectations it would sell its Allfirst subsidiary in the US and some switching out of Bank of Ireland. It closed 2 cents up at €12.20.

CRH dropped seven cents to €14.73 but Ryanair was up eight cents at €5.45 after announcing a new London-Strasbourg route.

A number of second-liners lost ground, however. DCC shed 60 cents to €10.00, Independent News & Media was down 10 cents at €1.55 as a London investor sold a block of nearly four million shares, while Kerry was off 27 cents at €14.38.

Heiton was down five cents at €2.60, with more than 1.2 shares traded, in the wake of a downbeat statement at its annual meeting.

IFG also lost 30 cents to €0.90 after taking an €18.5 million once-off charge in its first-half results.

Conduit shed 18 cents to €2.12 on news that a US rival, Infonxx, was about to enter the British directory enquiries market. On the Neuer Markt, where it also trades, it was down 5 per cent at €1.99.