Irish Banks Hit Hard

According to the FT, Irish banks were particularly hard hit by profit-taking after last week’s bounce. They were dealt a further blow when Merrion, the Dublin-based brokers, said slowing domestic growth was behind its downgrades from “buy” to “hold” of Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank .

The New Ireland Fund (IRL), which trades at a slight discount to its NAV, has been a disappointing performer and has about a 35% exposure to Ireland's banking and construction sectors. Offsetting this perception is that Ireland is probably the cheapest market in the world trading at just eight time earnings.

The Irish Times also reported a rise in the consumer price index, from 4.8 per cent in October, brings the inflation rate back to July levels, with overall prices having risen by 0.6 per cent between October and November.