Bank of Ireland shares fall on Wilbur Ross stake sale

Bank of Ireland slumped 4.6 per cent after US billionaire Wilbur Ross said he was selling his stake in the bank, giving him an estimated gain of over 150 per cent on the investment he made three years ago.

"The sale... reinforces our view that there remains little in the way of incremental positive catalysts on the horizon for (Bank of Ireland)," analysts at Nomura wrote in a note, cutting their target price for the stock.

The investor surprised the markets yesterday by announcing his intention to sell his remaining 5.5 per cent stake in Bank of Ireland.

European stocks paused early on Tuesday after a three-day winning streak fuelled by a package of measures from the European Central Bank, with a key regional index seen as overbought on a technical basis.

The stock was the top faller on the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which was flat at 1,393.11 points at 07:04 GMT.

The euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was also flat, at 3,304.71, having risen for three consecutive days after the European Central Bank unveiled new stimulus measures on Thursday.

The rise left the index in “overbought” territory according to its 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) - a momentum indicator - for the first time since October, charts showed.

“On a short-term basis, the momentum could slow down,” Philippe Delabarre, an analyst at Trading Central in Paris said. “But this is not going to prevent the continuation of the rise.”

Digital security company Gemalto was the top FTSEurofirst riser, up 3.1 percent, as it the said it had been selected by China Telecom as one of the suppliers to support the commercial roll-out of mobile contactless services.

Reuters