In a day of weak trading, the Irish Iseq closed down by almost 1 per cent, or 36.16 cents to 4,297.37 today, as weak sentiment in financial stocks across the US and Europe continued to drag down the Irish market.
Concern over the future of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers saw the US market fall yesterday, leading financial stocks across Europe to follow suit.
In Ireland, a report from Daft indicated that rents have continued to soften, leading to some concern for the buy-to-let sector.
Anglo Irish Bank was the worst performing financial stock and finished the day down by 4.7 per cent, or 27 cents, to €5.45. Irish Life & Permanent saw its share price decline by 2.7 per cent, or by 15 cents, to €5.35, while AIB closed down 2.5 per cent, or 20 cents, to €7.93. Bank of Ireland fell by almost 1.5 per cent, or 8 cents, to €5.39.
In its last day of trading, significant volumes saw IAWS close the day up by 3.7 per cent, or by 60 cents, to €17.00. The stock will de-list from the Irish Stock Exchange this evening, and, following its merger with Hiestand, will re-list as Aryzta on Friday.
Kerry Group also finished the day up, rising by 2.2 per cent, or 41 cents, to €19.22.
Although Ryanair received positive news in the form of the UK Competition Commission's recommendation for the breakup of the BAA monopoly over the London airports, the stock still fell, closing down by half a per cent, or 2 cents, to €2.62. There was no change for Aer Lingus, despite the announcement that Colm Barrington would be its new chairman, and it held firm at €1.55.
Despite a share buy-back of 100,000 shares, priced at between €16.82 and €18.01, CRH fell by 1.5 per cent, or 26 cents, to €16.75. Kingspan was also down, falling by 0.5 per cent, or 3 cents to €6.53, while Grafton finished the day down 1.7 per cent, or 6 cents, to €3.79.
In London, shares closed higher following a weak opening, as sentiment improved after it was indicated that the Bank of England would cut interest rates in November.
The FTSE 100 closed 1 per cent higher at 5,371.8.
In Europe, stock markets bounced a little, with the CAC 40 closing up 0.8 per cent in Paris and the DAX up 0.7 per cent in Frankfurt.
The S&P 500 stood at 1,273.54 in New York at 11.28 am, up by 6.85 points or 0.5 per cent, after better than estimated earnings from Hewlett Packard boosted technology stocks.
