The Irish Stock Exchange closed down today despite a lively news flow and alongside a weak performance in the financial sector.
The brightest spot of good news came from fruit importer Fyffes who announced an earnings upgrade from €14 million to €18 million to revised figures between €16 million to €20 million.
Brokers said it was the first time in nearly two years that an Irish company had upgraded its profit guidance for the year.
The stock jumped 2.72 per cent to close at €0.34. Irish packaging group Smurfit Kappa Group also experienced a good day in the markets following a morning announcement it had received consent to proposed amendments to ease the terms of its credit deals. The company jumped slightly by 1.09 per cent and closed at €3.71.
C&C Group also closed higher by 3.48 per cent to €2.38. The banks had a lacklustre day of trading with the Bank of Ireland slipping down 5.09 per cent to close at €1.678.
Allied Irish Banks also failed to inspire trader interest closing down at €1.679.
Brokers pointed to an ongoing "hangover" from Wednesday's IMF report, which estimated losses in banks could reach €35 billion by the end of 2010.
Irish Life and Permanent however managed to avoid slipping into the negatives closing flat at €3.10. One broker suggested investors were moving into the stock as it presented lower risk because it does not need to be involved in the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Market heavyweights CRH closed flat at €16.15.
Ryanair also followed suit but the no-frills airline managed to attract higher volumes of trade. It rose 1.66 per cent to finish at €3.304.
Greencore Group rebounded well rising 3.94 per cent to €1.32.
Glanbia dropped as a result of broker downgrades one stockbroker highlighted. It slipped 7.71 per cent to close at €2.215.
Independent News and Media jumped 6.38 per cent to close at €0.25.