Iseq ends up just in red

The Iseq index of Irish shares finished another lacklustre day fractionally in the red as equities across European markets fell in response to a hike in Chinese interest rates and an unexpected drop in Germany's industrial output.

At home, one of the main fallers was Bank of Ireland, which confirmed after the close of markets on Monday that it is discussing with the Government a number of ways in which it can meet its capital requirement to raise €2.2 billion by a deadline of February 28th. The bank's shares fell 3.5 per cent to 38 cent.

AIB, meanwhile, was broadly flat at 28 cent, while Irish Life & Permanent dropped 1.6 per cent to 96 cent.

For no discernible reason, there were sellers but not many buyers in major stock Ryanair, which declined 1 per cent to €3.68, as the overall Dublin market closed down half a per cent.

Building materials group CRH, the largest stock on the index, dropped 1 cent to €16.59.

Paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa, which publishes its full-year results for 2010 tomorrow, ended the session up 2 cent at €9.10 on relatively small volume, with most Dublin stockbrokers expecting its figures to be broadly positive given recent results from its competitors.

Elsewhere, food group Greencore fell 2.8 per cent to €1.20, while Kerry declined the best part of 1 per cent to €25.18.

Dealers attributed the latter's decline to commentary by its peer, the Swiss fragrances and flavours group Givaudan, on a spike in input costs and the margin pressures of continued agricultural inflation. Kerry is due to publish its full-year results on February 22nd.

An update from the Dublin Port Company, which highlighted a 6.1 per cent increase in the volume of trade last year, was interpreted as a boost for ferry operator Irish Continental Group, although the stock was quiet today.