Day of relatively few climbers

THE likes of clinical trials/medical devices company Icon, Kerry Group, Elan and FBD were steady fallers, as the Dublin market fell by just under 2% to 1,947.41 points yesterday.

On a day of relatively few climbers, AIB gained 10% — or 4c — to 44c, while building materials giant CRH was up by 33c at e13.81.

Norkom Technologies was up by 4c at 40c on the back of completing a new contract with South Korea’s second largest bank and there were small gains for the likes of Fyffes, housebuilding group Abbey, financial services group IFG and insulation specialist, Kingspan, which gained 7c to e2.37.

AIB’s progress of sorts was the only bright point for the banks as Bank of Ireland slipped another cent to 21c and Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) fell by 12.57% — or 11c — to 76c.

Yesterday’s fallers saw Elan shed 47c to close at e4.03, FBD Insurance fall by 30c to e5.75, Kerry Group down 39c at e14.75, Irish Continental Group fall 25c to e14.50 and Icon shed just over e1 to close at e12.01.

Both aviation stocks also fell — Aer Lingus’ poor set of results and negative outlook prompting a 21c — or 26% — fall to 58c and Ryanair was down by 11c to e2.91.

The ISEQ fared slightly worse than the leading European markets. The CAC 40 index in Paris was up marginally by 0.39% at 2,674 points, while the DAX in Frankfurt rose by 0.7% to reach 3,914 points. London’s FTSE, however, was down by half a percent at 3,694 points.