Irish banks dominated losses on European markets today, falling sharply as they reacted to renewed credit concerns after the Dublin market was closed on Monday for the bank holiday. Monday's fall in UK bank shares had been sparked by a profit warning from UK lender Bradford & Bingley. After slumping as much as 3% this morning, Dublin's ISEQ ended down 139 points (2.3%) at 5,967.
Bank of Ireland shares slumped 56 cent (6.9%) to close at €7.59 while Anglo Irish Bank plunged 62 cent (7.4%) to €7.78. Irish Life and Permanent was down 77 cent (6.8%) at €10.48. But shares in Ryanair closed up 14 cent at €2.84 after it said its after-tax profits for the year to March rose by 20%.
Other European stock markets closed higher, with London's FTSE gaining 50 points (0.8%) to 6,058. In Paris, the CAC jumped 1% to 4,984 while in Frankfurt the Dax gained 0.2% to 7,019. In London, Royal Bank of Scotland jumped 8% to 239.5p on speculation that British activist fund the Children's Investment Fund (TCI) was buying shares.
Meanwhile, US shares rebounded slightly, having tumbled on Monday, as car giant General Motors said it was boosting production of 'green' vehicles. The Dow Jones was up 14 points to 12,518 and the Nasdaq gained 16 to 2,508. Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index slumped 231 points (1.6%) to end at 14,209 after Monday's falls on Wall Street.
