DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,891.03 (–55.76) Settlement date: July 20thDUBLIN'S ISEQ index took its lead from European markets yesterday, with most stocks losing ground and the overall index finishing in the red, as a slowdown in Chinese economic growth and disappointing figures from the US overnight weighed on markets across Europe.

Dublin slightly underperformed in comparison to its European peers, finishing down 1.9 per cent, dragged down by a poor performance by financials and index heavyweights CRH and Ryanair.

AIB and Bank of Ireland were both weak as the IMF report on Ireland informed sentiment. AIB saw the sharpest falls, closing down 5.5 per cent at €0.85. As the European Commission approved Bank of Ireland’s restructuring plan, the bank shed 4 per cent to end the day at just under €0.71.

Irish Life Permanent bucked the trend and was one of the few stocks on the index to end the session in positive territory adding 2.5 per cent to finish at €1.57.

Housebuilding group Abbey closed almost 1 per cent higher after the company beat analysts’ expectations by reporting a pre- tax profit of €15.2 million for the year to the end of April, compared to a loss of more than €54 million the previous year.

Readymix gained 5 per cent to close at 21 cent after the building materials group said it expects to report a pretax loss of about €6.6 million for the first half of the year, compared to a €6.9 million loss in the corresponding period last year.

CRH, Kingspan and Grafton all lost ground on the day.

Greencore stock shed a half a per cent to close at €1.32.

Ryanair lost 2.5 per cent yesterday, with traders predicting that investors should begin taking positions today and Monday ahead of statistics next Tuesday.

DCC ended fractionally lower at €18.37.