Iseq lags behind European peers

Fears that interest rate and energy price hikes could slow any recovery depressed most European markets, but stocks made a come back ahead of the close of business as oil began to retreat.

However, the Irish market trailed its peers for most of the day, and while it showed some signs of a late rally, it failed to catch up with the rest of Europe.

Dealers suggested that the Irish market may have been weaker than the others during the day as, despite the fact that it is in the middle of its full-year reporting season, there was no substantial corporate news from Dublin-listed companies to provide investors with a focus.

The Iseq index of Irish shares was down almost 0.4 per cent at 2915.23 just ahead of the close, earlier in the afternoon it was down around 0.7 per cent.

The Stoxx Europe closed 0.4 per cent up, more than covering for an earlier slide of 0.5 per cent.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 closed almost 1 per cent up at 5974.76.

In Dublin, the market's leading stock, international building materials group, CRH, dipped to €15.725 at one stage and traded off its opening quote of €15.85 before bouncing back in the last half hour of trade to record a jump of 0.7571 per cent and a closing price of €15.97.

Builders' merchant and DIY specialist, Grafton, was strong for much of the day, rising by more than 2 per cent at one stage before falling back to close 0.4624 per cent up at €3.476.

Low-cost airline, Ryanair, fell 1.02 per cent to €3.39. Dealers said that the company is suffering fallout from generally weak sentiment towards its sector, which stems from the recent sharp increases in oil prices.

Its smaller rival Aer Lingus, in which Ryanair holds a stake, fell more sharply, closing 1.75 per cent down at 84 cent.

Packaging specialist, Smurfit Kappa, dipped slightly 0.44 per cent to €8.761.

Consumer foods and ingredients group, Kerry, which has a good run since the beginning of last month, fell 1.13 per cent to close at €27.19.