The Greek parliament passed the package of spending cuts and tax rises agreed with the EU/IMF on late Sunday night. The euro also rose 0.6% against the dollar on relief that Greek leaders had approved the austerity package.
In the financial sector, Bank of Ireland dropped 0.5c to 13.5c. AIB added 0.1c to 12.8c. Irish Life & Permanent shed 0.4c to 4.6c, while insurance group FBD Holdings slipped 5c to €7.40.
In the construction sector, the construction sector purchasing managers index came in at 46.4 in January, down slightly from 49.9 in December. A key driver behind the decline was civil engineering which went from 42.9 to 37.7. Shares in Grafton Group fell 2.1c to €2.81. Kingspan dropped 2.5c to €7.25, while CRH closed up 1.5c at €15.25.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, February 14, 2012
