DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq:3,309.89 (-23.09) Settlement date:April 16th

THE ISEQ index dropped about 0.7 per cent yesterday on a day when European markets in general weakened as investors grew cautious ahead of corporate earnings from the US.

After a very strong performance over the last week or so, Irish banks gave up a bit of ground.

One trader said that there was nothing specific driving the price of bank stocks down and attributed the decline to profit-taking following their recent run of good form.

Bank of Ireland tumbled almost 7 per cent, or 12 cents, to €1.64, while AIB was down more than 4 per cent, about 4 cents, at just under €1.44.

Irish Life & Permanent slipped 2 cents to €3.38.

Meanwhile, cider manufacturer C&C did well given the weak market and closed up about 2 per cent, or 7 cents, at €3.45 on a reasonable volume of about 1 million shares.

Smurfit Kappa was helped out by a report which was issued by Davy stockbroker, in which it predicted that the packaging group would continue to benefit from “positive pricing momentum” in its sector.

The broker reiterated its “outperform” rating for the stock.

Although Smurfit reached a high of €6.86 on the day, it slipped back to €6.80 by the close, which represented a daily gain of just 2.5 per cent.

Despite a positive announcement about an oil discovery in Uganda, exploration company Tullow Oil slipped slightly to £13.20 on the London Stock Exchange.

This is where most of the trading in the stock is conducted.

Elsewhere, some positive news from a British housebuilder failed to have a “good read-through” for its Irish peers, one broker said. Grafton Group, for example, fell close to 1 per cent, or about 3 cents, to €3.32.