Iseq slightly up after rollercoaster day

The Iseq index of Irish shares finished up slightly this afternoon after a rollercoaster of a day that saw morning gains wiped out by a sell-off across the world once the US markets opened after lunch.

The Iseq index finished up marginally, up 9 points on Thursday's close.

Market activity was influenced both by speculation about the future of the Irish banking sector and global factors.

Euroepan stocks came under pressure after Goldman Sachs said the US is in a deeper recession than it previously forecast and concern grew about the health of Citigroup.

In Dublin, AIB finished flat at ¤2.15, while Anglo Irish Bank finished down fractionally at 91 cent.

Bank of Ireland, which confirmed that it had received unsolicited approaches from investors, bounced almost 24 per cent to ¤1.25, up 24 cent.

Irish Life & Permanent, which said it has held talks with EBS about a possible merger, fell 5 cent to ¤1.10, down 4.3 per cent.

CRH shares fell after it was downgraded by Moodys and it closed down half a per cent at ¤15.28, shedding 8 cent.

C&C group fell 3.3 per cent to ¤1.14, a loss of 4 cent, and is now trading at levels close to those it was trading at before it announced new management earlier this month.

Greencore fell 11.5 per cent to ¤1, with 240,000 shares exchanging hands in a single transaction at that price. It reports full-year results next Tuesday.

It was also a weak day for food group Aryzta, building materials group Kingspan and United Drug, which released results that were in line with expecations but highlighted significant sterling exposure in 2009.

But there was decent buyer interest in paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa.