Irish and major European stocks decline; dollar down

Petroceltic operations in Algeria

IRISH shares were down by mid-afternoon yesterday, in line with the major European stocks.

By mid-afternoon in Dublin, the ISEQ Overall Index had lost 0.79pc or 48.57 points to 6,092.82.

The leaders included insurance group FBD, which was up 1.6pc to €9.85, while insulation group Kingspan slipped 1.8pc to €17.91.

On the other side of the board, the laggards included Petroceltic, which had tumbled 11.5pc to €1.67 as it and Hess Corporation agreed to pull out of the Dinarta licence in Iraqi Kurdistan due to the fall in oil prices and disappointing well results.

Earlier, the stock had fallen as much as 13pc in Dublin trading.

Other laggards included Smurfit Kappa, down 2.5pc to €26.04, and Green REIT, which fell 1.2pc to €1.62.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.6pc at 1.07 pm in London, paring a drop of as much as 0.8pc.

Seventeen of 19 industry groups slid, with travel and leisure shares leading losses.

The benchmark gauge closed 0.7pc away from its 2000 record on Tuesday, up 18pc for the year amid European Central Bank stimulus.

That pushed the Stoxx 600 to the highest valuation based on projected profits in at least 10 years, relative to its own history and to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

"The historical valuation discount of European indices against US peers has disappeared," said Tristan Abet, a Paris-based strategist at Louis Capital Markets.

"Investors refuse to buy cyclical domestic stocks like banks and continue to play global stocks that are exposed to foreign growth. The sectors at risk remain those related to the commodity cycle."

Stocks briefly pared losses after a report by the Ifo institute showed Germany's business confidence rose for a fifth month in March, beating economists' estimates.

Marine Harvest tumbled 6.1pc after Nordea Bank lowered its price estimate on the shares and kept a sell rating, citing weak demand from Russia.

Remy Cointreau and Carlsberg lost more than 1.2pc, adding to losses among food and beverage stocks.

Barclays lost 2.4pc after Investec cut its rating on the lender to hold, citing worsening outlook for return on equity.

Balfour Beatty climbed 6.1pc after reporting full-year revenue in line with analysts' estimates. Shares of the construction company had fallen 7.8pc this month.

Meanwhile, in currency news, the dollar fell against most of its major counterparts as investors continued to adjust their outlook for the currency in the wake of last week's Federal Reserve meeting.

The greenback extended declines after orders for durable goods unexpectedly dropped in February.