Flat market ends tumultuous week

The Dublin market ended the session pretty much flat bringing to a close a tumultuous week for the market.

Volumes continued to be weak, with most stocks trading at about 60 per cent of their average volumes, while Irish stocks continued to be out of favour with nervous investors. Nonetheless the market did settle down somewhat.

A good set of results from two staples of the ISEQ provided some news-flow. Independent News & Media's share price rose sharply in early trade as the media group reported a 29 per cent rise in operating profits and 7.8 per cent increase in revenues. However, the share price fell back towards the end of the session to end the day flat at €0.66.

Similarly, a solid set of half-year results from Irish Continental Group (ICG) which showed an impressive rise in revenues and profits for the first half of 2010 sent the share price higher, but it too fell back to close slightly under at €14.70.

Financials continued to be weak with the three main banking stocks ending the day in negative territory. AIB shed 1.5 per cent to close at €0.76, Bank of Ireland lost 2.2 per cent to €0.75 while Irish Life and Permanent dropped 3 per cent to close at €1.45.

Tullow Oil fell by almost 5 per cent after Uganda's energy minister suggested the company might have permanently lost one of its oil licences, which has expired. It closed at €14.63.

CRH, which lost significant ground during the week on the back of disappointing results, steadied somewhat today. It finished just under a half a percentage higher at €12.10, with traders noting that the stock was trading in a narrower range.

IFG was one of the best performers yesterday, adding just over 2 per cent to €1.18 ahead of results next week.