Volumes below average on Iseq

The November lull continued today as traders reported another relatively quiet day on the Dublin market, with volumes below average.

Financials continued to be weak, although Bank of Ireland did buck the trend to end the session fractionally higher at €1.67, with one trader noting significant volume in the bank's stocks traded in London.

Irish Life & Permanent was the worst performer among the banks, ending the day almost 8 per cent lower at €3.44, as Tuesday's disappointing trading update continued to weigh on sentiment. AIB was also down following a rally in the previous session, closing almost 2.5 per cent lower at €1.73, although volumes were below-average.

Shares in insurance group FBD Holdings advanced 3.5 per cent, having gained 10 per cent at one stage during the session, after the company said in an interim statement that its operating earnings per share for 2009 would be ahead of expectations.

Kerry Group closed almost 14 cent lower at €20.25 despite a lunchtime trading update for the ten months to the end of October in which the food group said it expects to increase its earnings for the full year to the higher end of forecasts as business volumes showed a modest improvement.

Greencore's announcement that it is to sell its bottled water business failed to lift the shareprice of the company. In a sign that the sale of the company's loss-making business was expected by the market, Greencore was off 2.5 per cent on the day , finishing at €1.37.

Ryanair was one of the most traded stocks. It closed 1.5 per cent lower at €2.85, a fall of four cents.

In London, the FTSE fell 1.4 per cent as miner and energy stocks were hit by falling commodity prices. The index closed at 5,268 points, down 74.

The Paris and Frankfurt markets were also lower this evening. The DAX index ended at 5,702 points, down just under 1.5 per cent, while the Paris CAC closed 1.7 per cent down at 3,760.

US stocks were down, due to weakness in the technology and health insurance sectors. At 7.15pm (Irish time), the Dow Jones was down 131 at 10,295 while the Nasdaq was down 41 at 2,152.