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LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Ireland's main index .ISEQ fell
as much as 1.2% on Monday morning dragged down by banks after
Irish nationalists Sinn Fein secured almost a quarter of
first-preference votes in a general election.
Bank of Ireland BIRG.I and AIB Group AIBG.I were among
the top fallers in Ireland, sliding about 5% and 3%,
respectively in morning trading.
"It will take a few days to finish counting the results but
longer to negotiate a new government," KBW analyst Daragh Quinn
said.
"That uncertainty coupled with the potential for a more
radical/populist party to enter government will likely weigh on
Irish bank performance", he wrote in a note.
The left-wing party was ahead of the centre-right Fianna
Fail and the Fine Gael party of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at
in an election analysts described as a seismic shift away from
Ireland's century-old, centre-right duopoly.