Mixed day for stocks amid shake-up of MSCI index

Iseq: 6,105.87 (+7.99) Settlement date: June 4thTHERE WAS a big focus yesterday on Irish stocks affected by the shake-up of the global benchmark Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index, but dealers said the outcome was the opposite of what would normally be expected.

Inclusion in the index is normally a boost that can see a share gain 4 per cent to 5 per cent in a day. However, the one stock that was included in yesterday's MSCI reweighting, Anglo Irish Bank, actually fell in value.

The bank ended the day 12 cent off at €8.40, a fall of 1.41 per cent, although it did trade up as high as €8.85 from an opening quote of €8.52 at one stage.

Volumes were huge compared to normal, with more than 28 million shares in the bank changing hands on the Dublin market yesterday.

In contrast, Kingspan was excluded this time around, and it gained ground, adding 10 cent to close at €6.80, a boost of 1.49 per cent. Volumes were strong for the insulation specialist, with 6.5 million units traded.

Of the others not to get an MSCI weighting this time around, Greencore fared worst, dropping 7.4 cent to €3.046, a fall of 2.37 per cent. Food group IAWS shed 31 cent to close at €15.63, a 1.95 per cent decline.

Bookmaker Paddy Power lost 25 cent to end the day at €23.15, a fall of 1.07 per cent.

Dealers said that both Kingspan's and Paddy Power's performances were "excellent" in the circumstances.

A further big order for shares in Independent News Media has boosted the publisher's price by 8.7 cent to €2.30, a leap of 3.93 per cent, proportionately one of the biggest gains of the day.

Smurfit Kappa, which took a hammering during the week, recovered ground, adding 25 cent to close at €6.55, a near 4 per cent increase.