Irish market closes weaker

THE Irish Market was weaker yesterday, with the ISEQ index falling 55.74 points to 4367.66.

The financial stocks dragged the index lower with Irish Life & Permanent closing 30c off at 13.30. Both Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank lost 20c to close at 11.60 and 12.97 respectively. First Active lost 3c to 4.85 while Anglo Irish Bank bucked the negative trend to finish 2c higher at 6.40. Overall the financial index fell by 131.20 points to 8755.30.

Jurys Doyle slipped 55c to 8.80 following its AGM yesterday, after warning shareholders that the company was still operating in a challenging trading environment. Ryanair fell 31c to 5.90 and Paddy Power finished 30c lower at 5.15. Construction stock CRH added 4c to 14.64 although Grafton Group dropped 17c to 4.08 and Kingspan slipped 14c to 1.88. In the food sector Kerry Group, whose interim results are out next Tuesday, rose 8c to 15.30. Greencore gained 4c to 2.73.