European markets down after turbulent day of trading

The majority of European equity markets finished in negative territory after a turbulent session yesterday.

Having opened down, markets rallied in early trading to trade higher for the remainder of the morning.

However, markets sold off after mid-day to finish down on the day.

The Iseq decreased by 0.4% to finish at 6,167.04.

It was a quiet day on the data front in Europe.

In the US, the existing home sales declined 7.1% in February to an annual rate of 5.08m units, the lowest level since last November. The consensus forecast was for 5.31m units.

In Irish financials, Bank of Ireland fell by 0.4% to 26.0c while AIB fell by 4.6% to €9.35.

Permanent TSB was unchanged at the close, finishing the day at €2.80. FBD fell by 0.8% to close at €6.40.

In agri-food stocks, Aryzta increased by 5.0% to €35.50, while Glanbia fell by 1.2% to €18.00.

Kerry Group was unchanged at the close, finishing at €80.42.

In the constructions stocks, CRH decreased by 1.7% to close at €24.67 and Kingspan decreased by 1.9% to close at €22.00.