Iseq finishes unchanged on day of uncertainty

Iseq: 2,447.93 (0.57%) Settlement date: September 9thWITH THE market waiting for the outcome of Germany's constitutional court verdict on its participation in the euro zone bailouts, there was little of a concrete nature to dissipate the uncertainty lurking across investment desks yesterday.

Though the FTSE in London advanced 1 per cent, the German Dax and the French Cac index both fell about 1 per cent, leaving the Iseq to take its preferred third option: finishing more or less unchanged on the day before.

Building materials group CRH climbed 1.7 per cent to €11.31 following reports that it is interested in buying a Russian cement business from Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska – Davy construction sector analyst Barry Dixon described the potential deal as “interesting” for CRH as it would help it further expand its eastern European growth platform.

Bookmaker Paddy Power rose 1.1 per cent to €35.38, following the release of quarterly results from Betfair, which noted that trading was encouraging.

Exploration company Kenmare advanced 8.63 per cent to 49 cent as it announced it had achieved technical completion at its Moma titanium mine in Mozambique.

Volumes were light in Total Produce, which rose 2.7 per cent to 38 cent on a day when the fruit distribution group reported flat first-half revenues of €1.3 billion and maintained its guidance on earnings for the full year.

Paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa fell 3.2 per cent to €4.80, while it was also a negative day’s trading for agrifood business Origin, which declined 4.7 per cent to €3.05.

Tumultuous conditions on equity markets are usually positive for “defensive” food stocks such as Kerry, which yesterday rose 0.7 per cent to €26.42, while Greencore climbed 1.7 per cent to 60 cent and Glanbia closed up 2.1 per cent at €4.39.