DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 3,093.94 (–51.78) Settlement date: October 29thTHE BANK holiday proved to be a bad start to the week for banking stocks and the overall Iseq index, which slipped 1.65 per cent in a quiet day's trading yesterday.

With the Iseq’s biggest stock, building materials group CRH, dragging down the index with a 3.2 per cent fall in its share price, the Irish market underperformed compared to London’s FTSE index but was more or less in line with the French CAC and the German DAX.

The European markets all weakened yesterday afternoon as investors took on board Wall Street concerns about the unconvincing nature of the global recovery.

An affirmation of Bank of Ireland’s triple-A rating on its covered bonds by ratings agency Fitch was not enough to stop its share price descending, closing down 3.9 per cent at €2.45. AIB’s share prices suffered a worse hit, sliding 4.8 per cent to end at €2.37.

The two banks’ share prices are now well below their level when the provisional National Asset Management Agency (Nama) “haircuts” were announced on September 16th, analysts at Davy Research said in a note to investors.

Meanwhile, drinks group C&C lost 4 per cent to close at €2.65.

Other fallers included Ryanair, down almost 1 per cent to €3.19 and Irish Life Permanent, which fell 1.9 per cent to €5.69.

However, Elan clawed back some of the 20 per cent loss in its share price that it endured on Friday after the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said it was to review the risk-benefit trade off on its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.

Yesterday, Elan gained 3.5 per cent to finish the session at €3.54.

Food group Greencore was the highest climber, up 4 per cent at €1.68, but trading volumes in the stock were low. United Drug also put in a positive performance, rising 3.2 per cent to €2.25. Major stocks Kerry and DCC also held up.