ISEQ down by €61bn for year

A FURTHER near seven and a half point dip to 2,343.27 points after yesterday’s half-day of trading on the ISEQ meant that the combined value of Irish shares fell by €61 billion to a mere €32.3bn over the past 12 months.

AIB ended the year with a 6c rise to close at €1.73, but it was the only Irish banking stock to show gains yesterday.

Bank of Ireland fell by 2c to close at 83c; Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) dropped by 1.88% , or 3c, to finish the year at €1.57. Anglo Irish, meanwhile, saw its modest gains from earlier in the week wiped out, as it fell by 14.50%, or 3c, to close at 17c.