ISEQ in the red

The ISEQ index of Irish shares had a difficult morning today, and is currently trading at 7346.77, some 78.01 points down on opening.

Given the overall fall, almost all stocks had a negative morning, even with the background of a very positive economic outlook from Bank of Ireland chief economist Dan McLaughlin.

According to the banks' global markets outlook, the current consumer boom will fuel economic growth of 6% in 2006.

The outlook, which is published today, also states that this spending is not being fuelled by debt, but by increases in household income, which grew by 10% last year.

"In this respect, consumers can be said to have Berlin-style savings with Boston-style spending," said Dr McLaughlin.

Bank of Ireland stock, like that of all other financials, fell 8c to €13.50. AIB was down 11c to €17.79, while Anglo Irish Bank fell by the same margin to €12.66. Irish Life and Permanent was down 18c to €16.95.

Pharmaceutical giant Elan saw almost 8.5% knocked off its share price, down by a euro to €10.80.

Elan announced today that they and Biogen Idec have received notification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee will review drug Tysabri for the treatment of multiple sclerosis on March 7.

Elan and Biogen Idec were forced to withdraw the drug last February after some patients using it developed a potentially fatal brain disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Three confirmed cases of PML were reported, two of which were fatal.