Financials slow market advance

THE ISEQ index dropped slightly yesterday as the financials weighed the market down. The market shed 23.16 to 8,275.24.

AIB added 6c to €20.61. However, Bank of Ireland lost 8c to €15.28. Anglo-Irish and Irish Life and Permanent dropped 11c and 10c to €13.25 and €19.65.

In construction, CRH lost 15c to €26.90 and Grafton shed 11c to €11.02. Kingspan’s price remained steady finishing at €16.37.

Elsewhere, Ryanair announced it had increased its holding on Thursday to over 19%. It finished the day up 11c to €8.78 while Aer-Lingus tacked on 8c ending at €2.98.