The Irish stock market fell back yesterday, hit by a weaker performance by equity markets around the globe.

The ISEQ gave up 25 points, or 0.6 per cent, led by the financial stocks, which shed some of their New Year gains.

AIB closed 17 cents lower at €13.48, while Bank of Ireland was down five cents to €10.25, Irish Life & Permanent lost 30 cents to €10.30 and Anglo Irish Bank was off six cents at €6.80.

Dealers said the Irish banks had been outperforming their British peers in recent days but had just run out of steam.

Sentiment wasn't helped by weak December consumer confidence data, pointing to slower economic growth this year.

Other stocks turned in a mixed performance. CRH gained 25 cents to €12.65 in light volume but Ryanair lost 13 cents to €7.04 as war clouds continued to gather. The airline announced a management reshuffle but dealers said it had been well flagged and caused little surprise in the market.

More than two million IAWS shares changed hands in a single deal at €7.40, with rumours that the co-op may have been involved on one side of the trade.

Among secondline stocks, Ardagh shares rose by 10 cents to €1.55 as the board rejected the offer from the Sean Quinn group for its glass interests.

Arnotts slipped back by 50 cents to €11.75 as there was no sign of a further offer from Carrgran.

Galen remained weak, despite analysts comments that the sell-off was overdone, closing 25 cents lower in Dublin at €6.35.

Arcon traded in good volume again, with nearly 1.3 million shares changing hands, though the shares were steady at €0.05.