ISEQ down 0.52% as banks, Ryanair slip

The ISEQ closed down 27 points to 5,256 on sluggish volume with a late afternoon resurgence failing to push the market into positive territory.

Three of the banks failed to recover from morning losses. AIB was down 15c to €€13.67 and BOI shed 3c to €11.60. Anglo was down 5c to €13.95. Irish L&P continued its upward trend, closing up 15c to €14.15.

Recruitment company CPL Resources was unchanged at $0.85. Co-founder, Mr Paul Carroll sold 3,430,000 ordinary shares today at €0.72 a share and representing a 9.35% stake in the company.

Waterford Wedgwood recovered from morning losses, closing at €0.25. The luxury group said today that it had received significant approaches for its All-Clad subsidiary.

Fears about the outcome of next week's EU Commission ruling on Charleroi knocked Ryanair shares back 25 to €6.75. The company said today it expected the European Commission to seek repayment of millions of euros for funding it received to run operations from its continental hub at Charleroi airport.

Other fallers today included United Drug, down 9c to €2.51 and McInerney slipped 15c to €5.05 on speculation that the company had rejected a takeover approach from Northern Ireland-based house building company Taggart Holdings.

Heiton was down 20c to €4.45 and CRH was busy slipping 7c to €17.15.