DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 3,011.95 (-46.88) Settlement date: January 5thTHE LAST full day's trading of 2009 in Dublin saw the market drifting downwards to year's end.There is still the possibility though of the benchmark index ending the year over 3,000.
Dealers said it was a quiet day with most of the major stocks trading a fraction of their normal volumes. As a result, price changes were somewhat exaggerated. The fall of just over 1.5 per cent in the Iseq index was put down to profit-taking after a solid run for most shares in December.
Of the financials, AIB was the weakest performer on the day and shed 5.9 per cent of its value to close at €1.21. However, traders noted that just over 800,000 shares of the stock were traded in Dublin and “the law of small numbers applied”.
Bank of Ireland was also in negative territory closing on €1.355, a drop of 2.3 per cent. Irish Life Permanent fell 1.2 per cent to €3.20 after a lacklustre session.
Market heavyweight CRH underperformed its European peers in the cement sector and was down 35 cent to €19.35, which accounted for much of the Iseq’s drop on the day. One trader noted a story in yesterday’s Financial Times about cement producers warning that increased government debt would squeeze infrastructure spending hit the sector across Europe.
Elsewhere, there were buyers around for Ryanair stock but this did not prevent shedding 4.2 per cent to close on €3.26. Aer Lingus was down just 2 cent to €0.60 on the day that it emerged Japan Airlines was likely to be forced into bankruptcy.
Drinks group CC continued to benefit from festive cheer and was one of the strongest performers, up 4.2 per cent to close at €2.99.
With a truncated trading session today, traders said it was likely that investors would continue to use the light markets to “shift small amounts of stock”.
