Aer Lingus and BofI dip as Iseq fails to maintain rally

Iseq: 2,964.85 (–16.567) Settlement date: April 12th:THE MARKETS were performing well yesterday up to the afternoon, when news of the latest Japanese tremor broke and investors got a renewed case of the jitters. The Iseq ended down 0.56 per cent.

The decision of the European Central Bank to increase interest rates by a quarter of a basis point had little effect as it had already been priced in, traders said.

There was a respectable volume of trades in Ryanair and the price remained flat despite the pressure the sector is under due to increasing oil prices. The share closed at €3.39.

Aer Lingus on the other hand fell 2.88 per cent, to €0.74, with traders saying this was due to disappointment in the market with traffic statistics it released.

Bank of Ireland fell 3.32 per cent, to close at €0.30 while Irish Life Permanent bounced back a bit, ending the day up 13.33 per cent, at €0.13. AIB closed at €0.29, a fall of 1.32 per cent.

Grafton group fell 1.74 per cent, to €3.38, a development that traders put down to a profit warning being issued by a UK retailer Carpetright. The firm, which issued its second profit warning in as many months, said sales in its Irish outlets had fallen by more than 50 per cent over the past three years.

CRH had decent volumes during the day and finished at €16.62, a fall of 0.48 per cent.

Dragon Oil fell 2.89 per cent to €6.79 while Kenmare Resources dropped5.38 per cent, to €0.51. Tullow Oil ended at €16.71, a rise of 0.66 per cent.

As for the food companies, Glanbia was down 0.23 per cent, at €4.34, Greencore closed down 1.67 per cent, at €1.18, and Kerry fell 0.49 per cent, to €26.32.

Elan rose by 2.1 per cent, to €5.35, while travel software firm Datalex saw its price rise 4.55 per cent, to close at €0.23. Independent News Media fell 2.48 per cent, to €0.59.