The share prices of AIB and Bank of Ireland were boosted in Dublin today by the Government's recapitalisation of both banks, but Anglo Irish Bank dropped following the Government's takeover of 75% of the bank.
In Dublin, the ISEQ index closed up five points at 2,374. Bank of Ireland closed 32% higher at 89 cent, while AIB was up two cent to €1.67. Anglo Irish dropped five cent to end at 30 cent. Aer Lingus added four cent to €1.48 after after releasing its defence document against Ryanair.
Other European markets fell, with London's FTSE ending down 38 points (0.9%) at 4,249. In Paris the CAC fell 2.3% to 3,151 while in Frankfurt the Dax shed 1.2% to end at 4,639.
On Wall Street, markets were lower as investors started to wind down trading at the end of the year. The Dow Jones dropped 56 points to 8,523 while the Nasdaq gave up 30 to 1,535. Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed 1.5% higher at 8,724 despite Japan's government saying for the first time in almost seven years that the outlook for the world's second biggest economy was getting worse.
