Shares in moderate fightback

SHARES in Dublin yesterday reversed last Friday’s losses, despite continued concerns over upcoming stress tests to be undertaken by European banks. The ISEQ index gained 15.46 points to close the session at 2,899.69.

Bank stocks were unpredictable having opened lower only to rally during afternoon trading. However, investor sentiment remains weak surrounding the prospects of the financials. AIB ended the day down 2c at 90.9c. Bank of Ireland remained flat at 73c while Irish Life and Permanent eased back 1c to €1.56.

The construction sector was mixed on the day as CRH regained some of last week’s heavy losses. The share price rose 28.5c to €15.82 as figures from the USindicated funding remains available for highwaysprojects. Grafton Group and Kingspan were both in the red, the former lost 0.2c to €3.06, while the latter shed 11.3c to €6.18.