ISEQ falls by over 60 points

Weakness in the US dollar and a bad day for the financials and Elan meant Dublin's stock exchange stood at 5,973.86 by the end of the day, down 67.32 points.

The pharmaceutical giant recorded a 70 cent fall today, the biggest on the index, to stand at €20.10.

Meanwhile the financial sector saw losses everywhere today, Anglo Irish Bank being the biggest casualty with a 27 cent fall to €16.93. Bank of Ireland fell seven cents to €11.48, Irish Life and Permanent was down five cents to €13.05 and AIB fell by two cents to €14.73.

Ryanair continued the downward trend with a more modest seven-cent decrease to €5.03.

The low-cost carrier announced today it is to invest €180m to create its 12th major European base at Shannon Airport.

The airline will fly four jets on 14 routes from the airport from May next year to the UK and mainland Europe.

Another major faller was construction firm CRH, who saw their stock go down 30 cents to €19.00.

However, there was better news in the construction sector as both Heiton (up 25 cents to €7.05) and Kingspan (up three cents to €6.73) reversed the general trend.

Kingspan had announced today the appointment of Gene Murtagh Jr as chief executive officer for the group from January 1.

Mr Murtagh has been with the group for 11 years and, at the moment, hold the post of chief operating officer.

Fyffes was another firm who recorded positive results today, seeing their stock go up five cents to €2.08.

They announced strong results to date in the second half of 2004.

The fruit distribution company is confident of continuing good performance due to strong market conditions on the continent and the first-time contribution of recent acquisitions to results.

An increase of over 20% is expected in adjusted profit before tax.

For the first half of the year, Fyffes reported that it had earned additional exceptional profits of €14.3m from property activities.

Business support services group DCC saw their share price rise 19 cents to €15.75.