CRH profit warning hits construction stocks hard

Iseq: 4,890.30 (-185.06) Settlement date: July 7thIT WAS a horrendous day of trading on the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday and the Iseq index closed down 185.06 points, or 3.65 per cent, to close at 4,890.30, as a profit warning at CRH sent the index hurtling downwards.

The building materials group announced that its pretax profits for 2008 might show a high single-digit percentage decline, its first profit warning in many years.

One of the main movers on the day, CRH closed down 12.7 per cent in Dublin to €15.12 and 14 per cent in London, in a busy day of trading for the stock.

Construction stocks in general suffered on the back of CRH's bad news, and Grafton Group closed down 10.2 per cent or 36 cent to €3.18, while Kingspan closed down 3.6 per cent or 21.5 cent to €5.77.

Homebuilder McInerney also had a torrid day of trading, as it fell by 13 cent or by 26.5 per cent to €0.36, as the halving of homebuilder Taylor Wimpey's share price in the UK market hit housing stocks hard.

Financial stocks were also hit, with another poor day for Irish Life Permanent, which was down by 16 cent or by 2.5 per cent to €6.07. Anglo Irish Bank fell by 12 cent or by 2.06 per cent to €5.70.

Bank of Ireland was down by 1.3 per cent and by seven cent to €5.33, while AIB closed the day almost flat at €9.41, a decrease of nine cent or 0.9 per cent.

Aer Lingus, which saw more than 36 million shares change hands, tumbled 16 per cent at one stage, before closing 10.15 per cent weaker on €1.23.

Food stocks performed a little better on a generally tough day, as investors looked to take shelter in defensive stocks, with Glanbia up 4.7 per cent or 21 cent to €4.68, Total Produce unchanged at €0.55 and IAWS down by 0.7 per cent to €15.70.