Financials and Pharmaceuticals aid 24-point ISEQ fall

Dublin's ISEQ fell 24.33 points to 5384.91 in a bad day for financials and the pharmaceutical sector today.

The worst performer in the financial sector was Bank of Ireland whose shares fell 10c to €10.53. The bank has agreed to refund more than €1.8m to customers who were charged fees against the orders of the Director of Consumer Affairs.

Not far behind BoI were Irish Life and Permanent who tumbled 9c to €12.31. Anglo-Irish Bank recovered from an early 10c fall today to finish unchanged at €12.90, while Allied Irish Banks shares rose a modest 3c t0 €12.25.

Pharmaceuticals had an even worse day with Elan taking a 71c hit to end up at €19.55 and WarnerChilcott finished at €8.96 a fall of 57c for the day.

It was a mixed day for the construction sector as Grafton, Heiton and Kingspan al showed increases while Abbey, Readymix and McInerney turned in falls for the day. The biggest sector rises were recorded by Grafton (11c to €6.67 and Heiton 7c to €6.47) with Readymix the major faller (down 10c to €1.55).

The most traded shares were Irish Life & Permanent, Ryanair, Bank of Ireland, CRH and Allied Irish Bank.

The busy day for Ryanair saw their shares go up 18c to €4.98, while business support services company DCC is the big winner, with shares climbing 30c to €14.80 with the Scientific diagnostics firm, Trinity Biotech, showing a more modest rise of 11c to end up at €2.58.