Trickle in volumes produces slight drop in Iseq

Dublin report: The markets were open yesterday, not that the skeleton staff in place at Dublin's stockbroking firms had much to do. Most people were too busy enjoying the August bank holiday to do any trading, with the result that volumes amounted to a mere trickle.

The Iseq index finished the day down 97 points, 1.25 per cent off.

The main Irish stocks to see any significant volume in trading were Anglo Irish Bank, Bank Of Ireland, AIB and CRH, but these trades occurred on the London market, where there were rollovers in contracts for difference (CFDs).

Anglo finished the day down 15 cent at €11.51, while AIB lost 28 cent to close at €19.67. Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, slipped 30 cent and closed at €14.10.

CRH fell 70 cent to €25.53, a drop of 2.6 per cent.

In Dublin, the only stock that saw much activity was C&C, which continued its recent good run and rose 5 cent to €8.55, an increase of over half a per cent. The company recently announced that its Magners cider brand was enjoying "better than expected" sales growth.

Elsewhere, DCC fell 10 cent to €18.65, Elan lost 52 cent to close at €11.33 and IAWS shed 19 cent to finish at €14.71.

Iona's share price lost 15 cent and closed at €3.15, while Grafton lost 5 cent to get past the line at €10.38 and Kingspan fell 20 cent to €13.45. Paddy Power went down by 6 cent, closing at €13.55.

Irish Life and Permanant had a better bank holiday, gaining 5 cent to close at €18.85.

Moving in the right direction also was Getmobile. It added 2 cent to its share price, which recently collapsed after the telecoms company issued a profit warning in June.

The stock finished yesterday afternoon on 9 cent.

Kerry also had a good day, climbing 34 cent to €16.20.

It looks set to be a quiet week, with only Trinity Biotech and Readymix reporting results this week and a definite holiday feeling in the August air.