Financials keep ISEQ down
The ISEQ index of shares lost ground today as the financials made a poor start following the Bank Holiday weekend.
The Dublin market was down 33.93 points to 6777.01 as Anglo Irish dropped 25c to €10.90. Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent were down 7c and 13c to €13.73 and €14.90 respectively.
AIB bucked the trend, gaining 5c to €17.80 in early trading.
The other big losers this morning were CRH, down 20c to €23.25; Elan, down 19c to €6.31; and Kerry Group, down 18c to €20.62.
Budget carrier Ryanair shares were up 1c to €6.81 as it announced a 21% improvement in first quarter profits today, despite seeing its fuel bill more than double on a year earlier.
The Dublin-based carrier was helped by a surge in passenger numbers, up by almost a third on a year earlier to 8.5 million in the three months to June 30.
Ryanair, which has refused to follow the lead of many of its rivals and introduce a fuel surcharge, said the charges imposed by other European carriers made its fares look more attractive, allowing it to raise ticket prices.
This helped it post better-than-expected net profits of €64.4m.
