Market flat on low volumes

THE Irish market dipped below 2,900 points yesterday as comprehensive GDP data from the US confirmed that the recession was worse than first thought and that previous future growth prediction may have been on the optimistic side.

The ISEQ index did manage to recover late in the day to eventually post a gain of 4.61 to finish the week at 2,915.36.

The financials remained relatively flat on the day. AIB closed on 93.9c while Bank of Ireland tacked on 3.4c to close at 85.3c. Irish Life and Permanent made a minor loss of 1.4c to €1.75.

Construction stocks were quiet on the day also as market heavyweight CRH lost 23c to €16.03. Grafton Group and Kingspan on the other hand managed small plusses, adding 2c and 2.1c to finish at €2.89 and €5.38.

Elsewhere, Ryanair increased 8.4c to €3.84, while Aer-Lingus slipped 1.9c to 93.1c as cabin crew prepare to take a ballot over working time and rosters.