Dublin's ISEQ index edged into positive terrain this evening, inching a point higher to close at 5,640, on the back of good gains from Ryanair and Kingspan. Ryanair shares rebounded from the previous days losses to settle ten cent higher at €3. Shares in Kingspan jumped 35 cent to €6.28 after it said today it was continuing to pursue acquisitions. INM shares were down two to €2.23 ahead of its AGM in London tomorrow.
Most European stock exchanges finished weaker this evening with London's FTSE falling for a third day in a row as commodity stocks weighed. The FTSE closed 50 points (0.8%) lower at 5,827 while the Paris CAC was down 38 (0.8%) to 4,761 and the Frankfurt DAX lost 45 points (0.6%) to 6,771.
Wall Street shares were mixed this evening as the markets digested a tough message on inflation from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and a rise in the US trade deficit. The Dow Jones reversed early weakness and rose 65 points to stand at 12,345, but the Nasdaq was down one to 2,459.
Earlier, Asian stocks suffered heavy losses with Tokyo down 1.13% to 14,021 as investors worried about high oil costs.
