ISEQ falls 60 points

Dublin's stock exchange had a negative start to the day as it found itself 60.28 points down.

The ISEQ was at 7943.12 by 11am this morning.

The negative trend was reflected in the financial sector which saw all the major banks lose out. Both Anglo Irish Bank and the Bank of Ireland were down 10c to €13.35 and €15.30 respectively. Irish Life and Permanent had an eight cent fall to €18.92 while AIB fell six cents to €19.20.

Pharmaceutical giant Elan saw their share price slide by 98c to €11.20 after US regulators put off a decision today on whether Elan's multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri can return to the market.

The contruction sector was mixed with CRH seeing the highest rise of the day so far, up 20c to €28.70 and housebuilder Abbey going up 5c to €10.45. However, rival Kingspan was down 7c to €12.49.

Elsewhere, Independent News and Media saw their share price fall three cents to €2.64 after they reported a 41.6% rise in pre-tax profits for last year up to €272.5m.

Trinity Biotech had a 20c fall to €1.85, while food group IAWS was down 10c to €14.15.

Business service group DCC's stock climbed 10c to €19.40.