Late selling spree hits market

THE ISEQ index of shares fell 45.56 points to 2,520.03 yesterday despite having being in positive territory for most of the day like all the major bourses throughout Europe.

Shares in Irish Life & Permanent finished down 5c at €1.47 after it announced it had approximately €95m exposure to Icelandic banks. It went on to say that the group has a strong and flexible capital position to deal with this exposure without putting the group under any capital gain. Shares in AIB closed up 2c at €3.17, Bank of Ireland shed 2c to €1.36, while Anglo Irish Bank weakened 28c to €1.13.

In the construction sector, CRH added 3c to €14.84, Kingspan gained 10c to €4.55, while Grafton Group shed 2c to €2.30. Elsewhere, Ryanair fell 14c to €2.35, Paddy Power added 25c to €10.95 and Kerry Group jumped 75c to €18.35.