Food sector best as Iseq finishes flat

Market Report:A dearth of stock-specific news on the Iseq index of Irish shares yesterday meant dealers in Dublin were avidly watching global markets, as poor sentiment in the early hours of trading left financial and construction stocks nursing declines.

At one stage, the Iseq dipped below the 8,000 level and AIB and Bank of Ireland were both trading down around 3 per cent. But there was a better mood among European financials later, lifting the Iseq, which finished virtually flat, down just 3 points.

However, Bank of Ireland still lost 19 cent and closed down 1.5 per cent at €12.28. AIB recovered to finish up half a percent, while there were also slight gains for Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent.

CRH, which announced it had bought four smaller companies in the US for €258 million, lost 25 cent to close at €29.25.

Grafton finished down 1.3 per cent at €9.13, once again bearing the brunt of the market's dislike of all things construction-related, while Kingspan dropped 3 per cent to close at €17.36, a fall of 54 cent.

There was better news for the food stocks. Kerry was the main beneficiary, shooting up more than 6 per cent to €21.39, while Greencore also had a good day, rising more than 3 per cent to €4.79. C&C recovered 9 cent, closing at €6.32. But Cuisine de France owners IAWS went in the other direction and fell more than 2 per cent to €14.98.

Turning to airlines, Ryanair lost 4 cent to €5.18, while Aer Lingus also shed 4 cent to land at €2.46. The other major stock to enjoy significant gains was Independent News & Media, up almost 5 per cent at €3.35.