Renewed fears about the euro zone’s debt crisis dragged stocks down across European markets today.
The Stoxx 600 index, which tracks leading stocks across 18 western European markets, fell 0.9 per cent to close at 247.39.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 fell 0.8 per cent to end the day at 5,624.26.
The Iseq index of Irish shares outperformed European benchmarks, falling just 0.54 per cent to finish at 2,892.52.
A good run for the Dublin market’s biggest stock, building materials giant, CRH, came to an end today.
The group, which accounts for around one third of the Iseq index of Irish shares, tumbled 2.62 per cent to close at €15.075.
Dealers said that a number of research notes published today, including one from Credit Suisse, suggested that both it and one of its larger rivals, Heidelberg, were over priced.
At the same time, investors were seeking to take some of their profit from CRH’s recent strong run.
Paddy Power also saw some investors taking profit, and slipped by close to half a per cent to end the day at €44.55.
Drinks group C&C added 2.42 per cent to close at €2.878.
