Market treads water

THE Irish market staged an afternoon rally yesterday seeing early losses in line with its European peers. Despite this the market finished down 1.62 points at 2,639.86.

A mixed day for the financials saw AIB and Anglo Irish move on 10c and 1.4c to €2.26 and 33c. Bank of Ireland added 1c to 94.9c. Irish Life and Permanent lost 11c to close at €2.57.

It was a bad day for the construction sector as all three major constituents lost ground. CRH slipped 24c to €18.65. Grafton Group and Kingspan also fell 13c and 24.4c to €2.20 and €2.89.