ISEQ down despite Icon surge

The ISEQ finished the day down 26.20 points at 6605.71 despite a €2.03 upsurge to €35.88 by technology firm Icon PLC.

Jurys fell 38c to €18.72, following news this morning that the Doyle family has purchased more than half the total stock in the hotel group.

The financials had a bad day with Anglo Irish Bank the only bright point after a 10c rise to €11.35. Irish Life and Permanent dropped 27c to €14.58. Bank of Ireland was down 5c at €12.79 and Allied Irish Bank fell by 15c to €16.90.

The negative trend was continued in the construction sector with building material group CRH tumbling 33c to €21.47 and house builder Abbey fell 14c to €8.76. Another construction company, McInerney Holdings fell also by 10c to €8.80 while Grafton bucked the trend with a 11c rise to €8.46.

Elan made 19c to €6.99 by the end of the day, while Business support services company DCC lost 17c to €15.28.

Both Kerry Group and Paddy Power were down 15c to €18.70 and €14.40. Today, the publicity-seeking bookmaker made itself odds-on favourite to win this year’s Published Accounts Award.

C&C fell 7c to €5.28 after today’s announcement that it had lost its contract to distribute Danone’s Volvic and Evian products in Ireland.

Exploration company Aminex was unchanged at €0.24. Aminex today announced new exploration rights in Madagascar.