Market report:AS IS normal in these recessionary times, the Iseq took its direction from abroad yesterday, shedding 1.58 per cent of its value in the process.

An Ascension Thursday holiday across much of Europe led to choppy trade, with volumes and price changes a little volatile.

The banks were weaker as a group, led down by Bank of Ireland, which said goodbye to a post-results boost. Shares in the bank closed 9.3 per cent, or 14.9 cent, weaker at €1.45 after spending much of the day ahead.

AIB, which lagged its main competitor earlier in the week, finished better, gaining 4.7 cent to end the session at €1.28. Irish Life Permanent lost 8 cent to close at €3.02.

A day after its bond sale, CRH dragged the market down by losing 31 cent, or 1.71 per cent to reach €17.83 in weak volume. Kingspan also moved lower, dropping 22 cent to €4.60.

Independent News Media lost ground too, declining 2.8 cent to 25.2 cent. Greencore was an outperformer, climbing 10 cent to €1.13 on decent levels of business after peer company Bakkavor reported positive figures.

Smurfit Kappa also had a good day after Davy issued an encouraging note and reiterated its €7.00 price target on the company. Shares finished 5 cent higher at €3.40 yesterday.

Tullow was on the winning side too, rising by 20 cent to €11.20.

CC was less fortunate, declining by 7.9 cent to €2.11 after Wednesday’s strong gains. Peer group Mitchells Butlers said yesterday it was seeing a slowing rate of decline in sales.

Newsflow was thin on the ground in general, with Providence providing the exception as it reported a strong increase in revenues. Shares gained 5.13 per cent to reach 4.1 cent. Ryanair closed in negative territory, shedding 6.8 cent to close at €3.37.

Settlement Day: May 26th