The four-day rally in Irish stocks came to a shuddering halt today as a sell off in financial stocks dragged the Iseq into negative territory.
At one stage, Irish shares were down more than 5 per cent before a minor rally pared back the losses, with the Iseq eventually closing at 4,910.05 - a drop of 150.46 points or nearly 3 per cent.
As has been the case for weeks now, international events were dictating what was happening on the Dublin market rather than Irish stock specific news.
Mobile phone company Vodafone lowered its outlook for full-year revenue to around the bottom of a previously forecast range, while poor results at US bank Wachovia and weak forecasts from Apple and Texas Instruments weighed heavily on many international markets. The Irish market was no exception.
Banks led the fall on the Iseq in a day of volatile trading which saw them give up most of the gains of the past few days. Irish Life & Permanent shares bore the brunt of the sell-off of banking stocks. At one stage shares in the company were 17 per cent lower, before the stock eventually closed the day 60 cents weaker at €5.45, a drop of nearly 10 per cent.
AIB was also under pressure and by the close of business, around 8 per cent was wiped from the value of its shares as it shed 71 cents to €8.05. Bank of Ireland was 27 cents weaker at €5.67, while Anglo Irish Bank was 1.6 per cent weaker at €5.862.
CRH was also struggling throughout the day on poor sectoral news, eventually ending the day more than 2 per cent weaker as it shed 42 cents to €17.50.
Other construction stocks put in a mixed day. Kingspan dropped 21 cents to €7.07, while Grafton was more than 6 per cent stronger at €3.80.
R
yanair's share price was volatile during day, trading down substantially in early morning trading. However, a drop in oil prices led to a turnaround and the stock had tacked on 4 cents to €3.15 by the time the market closed.
The decline in oil prices gave a fillip to most markets, allowing them to pare losses.
European stocks fell for the first time in five days, led by telephone and technology companies, after Vodafone reduced revenue forecasts and Ericsson posted lower profits. Vodafone, the world's largest mobile-phone company, tumbled 14 per cent after the economic slowdown hurt sales prospects.
National benchmark indices retreated in 13 of the 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.7 per cent. France’s CAC 40 was unchanged, and Germany’s DAX gained 0.3 per cent.