Market Report

Settlement Day: November 20th: The market was caught in a global wave of selling yesterday, as renewed concerns over terrorist attacks dented investor confidence on all the main exchanges.

The ISEQ as a whole ended down 1.4 per cent on relatively light trade, with financial stocks among the worst affected. Dealers said the main banks were being targeted by international investors.

AIB fell 13 cents to 12.25, while Bank of Ireland suffered a drop of 25 cents before closing at €10.39. A note from NCB yesterday said Bank of Ireland was under-rated and branded it a "buy". In other financials, Anglo Irish also had a poor day as it lost 21 cents to close at €10.09. Irish Life & Permanent weakened 20 cents to 12.00.

Ryanair was among the worst of the larger industrials, with Charleroi-related jitters combining with the general market trend to drive it down 32 cents to 6.38. CRH fell five cents to 15.65.

Heiton shed 20 cents to finish at 3.75, while competitor Grafton closed five cents lower at €5.10.

Housebuilder McInerney bucked the trend by climbing four cents to 4.10. The company said yesterday that Threadneedle Asset Management now holds 3.05 per cent of its shares.

DCC was also on the positive side of the market, closing six cents stronger at 10.91. Paddy Power was another sound performer as it rose seven cents to 6.57.

Viridian fell two cents to 7.93 on low volume in advance of today's interim results. The market is expecting few surprises on September's pre-close update.

Takeover target Gresham dropped five cents to 1.10 on low volume.