Iseq closes lower on debt fears

Fears over the stability of Ireland's sovereign debt weighed on the Irish Stock Exchange today, pushing financials down and leaving the ISEQ fairly flat on the day, down by 11 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 2,813.57.

After a weak morning, stocks rallied in the afternoon when US markets opened but it was a quiet day overall, with little news and "no volume in anything", according to one Dublin broker.

Ahead of tomorrow's government bond auction, financials were off on the back of volatile bond markets, with Bank of Ireland down by 7-8 per cent at one stage.

It rallied later in the day however, and narrowed its losses to close down by 2.3 per cent, or 2 cent, at €0.77.

Similarly, AIB was very weak and dipped below €0.80 at one stage. However, it pulled back in thin trading volumes to close down by 4.3 per cent, or 4 cent, at €0.80. Irish Life & Permanent was also down, and it gave up 3 cent, or 2 per cent, to finish the day down at € 1.66.

CRH was off by two cent in small volumes, falling back by 0.1 per cent to close at € 14.75.

Building stock McInerney saw a more dramatic move, as it gave up 40 per cent on the day over concerns for its future viability. It closed down by 2 cent at €0.03.

Across the food sector stocks were weak, due to soaring commodity prices and consumer weakness.

Kerry Group was largely flat on the day, losing 5 cent, or 0.2 per cent, to finish at € 24.70, while Greencore fell back by 2 cent, or 1.2 per cent to close at € 1.27. Glanbia closed the day unchanged at € 3.28.

Going against the trend however was Total Produce, which advanced by 3 cent, or 9 per cent, to finish the day up at €0.37.

Ahead of its results next week, Kingspan gave up 19 cent, or 3.4 per cent at €5.33.

Airline Ryanair was one of the few positives on the day, and it added 5 cent, or 1.4 per cent, to climb to € 3.75.

Across Europe, markets were largely flat, with the FTSE 100 down by 0.5 per cent in London, the DAX unchanged in Frankfurt and the CAC 40 down by 0.4 per cent in Paris.