Market again drifts lower

The Irish market closed down 22.28 points yesterday at 6,159.94 as the market endured another difficult day, with the CSO releasing jobless figures which had risen by 8,500 from January.

The banks recovered morning losses to close in positive territory. AIB gained 9c to finish at €13.13, Bank of Ireland added 14c to €8.91, Anglo moved up 39c to end at €9.07, while Irish Life & Permanent had a gain of 9c to complete the week at €10.66.

CRH fell 26c to €24.30. Grafton gained 13.3c to finish at €5.23 while Kingspan shed 4c to close at €8.26.