European markets make modest gains

STOCK MARKETS across Europe continued to make modest gains yesterday despite a lower opening on Wall Street yesterday afternoon when all key indices were down fractionally.

In Dublin, the ISEQ 100 Index of Irish shares was the best performer among European bourses, up 1.18% on the day following the very strong gains made on Tuesday when the value of the market was up by more than €4 billion at one point.

The ISEQ has been the worst performer of the European indices over the current year as big overseas investors sold Irish financial and construction stocks on fears of a housing crash and a weaker economic growth story.