Shares stage broad-based retreat

THE Irish market fell into negative territory yesterday. At the closing bell the ISEQ index had fallen a further 62.91 points to 6717.52.

The financials gave up 71.30 points overall. Heavyweights AIB and Bank of Ireland lost 7c and 11c respectively. Anglo-Irish shed 4c to €11.08 while Irish Life & Permanent was also weaker at €15.00.

In construction Grafton Group was 43c weaker at €8.50. CRH also suffered, falling 25c to €22.35.

Elsewhere DCC recovered slightly following Monday’s profit warning which saw a dramatic decline in its share price. The stock climbed 10c to €16.80. Meanwhile Eircom dipped by 1c to €2.03 following news that eBay is to acquire a leading provider of VOIP services for US$4.1bn.