Bad day for Elan as ISEQ plummets

The ISEQ plummeted almost 120 points today to close at 5,308.16, with Elan shares losing 11% of their value.

The ISEQ closed down 119.6, with financial stocks all suffering.

Allied Irish Bank dropped 17c to€12.20 while Bank of Ireland fell 8c to €10.68. Anglo-Irish Bank shares lost 15c to close at €12.83 while Irish Life & Permanent shares dropped 21c to €12.26.

Ryanair shares fell by 25c to €4.70. Today the airline filed documents at the High Court in London alleging monopoly abuse of fuel levies by UK airport operator BAA .

Ryanair also announced a major expansion of its Luton base, with am investment of €195.8m, including four new Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Meanwhile Irish pharmaceutical giant Elan lost 11.88% of its value as shares dropped €2.36 to €17.50.

Elan announced encouraging results of clinical trials of a new Alzheimers treatment, AN-1792, at the International Conference on Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders in Philadelphia.

CRH fell 15c to €18.10.

The most traded stocks during the day were Kerry, Ryanair, Bank of Ireland, CRH and AIB.