ISEQ falls 1.5% in Spanish bombing aftermath

The ISEQ index was down 1.5% on Thursday following the terrorist bomb attack in Madrid today.

News of the blasts sent markets all over Europe tumbling with aviation, IT and financial stocks hardest hit.

The ISEQ was down 78 points to close at 5,102.

While the Spanish government blamed Basque terrorist group ETA, US markets were jittery fearing the attacks may be linked to al-Qaeda.

Earlier, Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna, said ETA was not responsible.

Disappointing US labour data - which showed that the US economy created just 21,000 new jobs in February - also impacted stocks there.

Analysts and the market were looking for figures closer to the 125,000 mark.

All Irish financial stock were down, including AIB -9c to €12.10, Anglo Irish -57c to €13.05 and BOI down 15c to €10.40.

Construction firm CRH - which has major interests in the US - was down 15c to €16.85.

Pharmaceutical giant Elan saw all recent gains eroded as it shed 70c to close at €13.10.

Travel and tourism companies Irish Continental Group and Jurys Doyle were also down 5c to €12.00 and 17c to €9.80 respectively.

Ryanair - which serves the Spanish market and announced new summer schedules today - was down 10c to €4.70.