Weak mortgage data depresses Iseq

Weak mortgage data and selling of European banking stocks has seen the Dublin market fall in early trade.

At 12.35pm the Iseq was down 78 points or 1.2 per cent at 6,235 points.

Irish Life & Permanent was among the fallers, shedding 3.8 per cent €10.44 and was joined in negative territory by Anglo Irish Bank shares which were down 2.8 per cent at €8.65.

AIB stocks were down 2.1 per cent on €13.30 and Bank of Ireland was off 1.3 per cent on €8.74.

FBD, which saw 8.6 per cent wiped off the value of its shares yesterday on news that Eureko had withdrawn its approach for the company was down a further 2.7 per cent on €27.45 this afternoon with brokers pointing to a note from Goodbodys downgrading the stock. Volumes were light.

Analysts said the Fed rate decision tonight was having little impact and would only cause a reaction if they failed to cut rates by a quarter point.

National benchmark indexes fell in 13 of 17 western European markets that were open. France's CAC sank 0.6 per cent, and Germany's DAX lost 0.3 per cent. The UK's FTSE 100 declined 0.8 per cent.

European stocks fell, trimming the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index's biggest monthly gain since 2003, as earnings from SAP AG missed analysts' estimates and Alcatel-Lucent SA lowered its sales forecast on the dollar's drop.

US index futures declined after Time Warner reported a 36 per cent drop in first-quarter profit. Shares fell in Asia.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business-management software, sank the most in three months after profit tumbled 22 per cent in the first quarter because of acquisition costs and the stronger euro.

Alcatel-Lucent slumped as the phone equipment maker posted its fifth straight quarterly loss.

Additional reporting agencies