The anniversary of the plunge in banking stocks dubbed the “St Patrick’s Day Massacre” by traders was a quiet affair on the Dublin stock market, following a quiet Monday on global markets.
The Iseq index of Irish shares closed down half a per cent on a day with little local newsflow due to the bank holiday.
Internationally, there were two snippets of positive news, as new data showed that the construction of new homes in the US was higher than expected in February, while a poll by the ZEW economic institute in Germany indicated a rise in investor sentiment.
The busiest stock on the Iseq was building materials group CRH, with 3.3 million shares exchanging hands ahead of the expiration of its rights issue tomorrow morning.
After a positive run over the last few trading days, the banks lost some ground, with Bank of Ireland falling 12.8 per cent to 32 cent, shedding 4 cent. AIB, meanwhile, was down 5.3 per cent at 55 cent, losing 3 cent on the day. Irish Life & Permanent held steady, climbing 1 cent to 77 cent.
Ryanair’s share price finished down 1 per cent on decent volume at €2.84, having traded at the €2.80 level for most of the day. The company has agreed a pay freeze and productivity increase with pilots.
Food group Kerry and industrial holdings group DCC were two stocks that were under a little pressure, with both stocks closing down around 2 per cent.
Fyffes, which has benefited from strong banana prices of late, had a good day’s trading on light volumes, climbing 7.6 per cent or 1 cent to 18 cent, while insulation group Kingspan rose 4.8 per cent to €2.85, up 13 cent.
The Iseq index closed just below the 2,100 mark yesterday. On March 17th, 2008, when it closed down 4.6 per cent after a day of high volatility, its closing level was still above the 5,700 mark.
