There was little of note in the Irish market as international markets took a breather after a few hectic days. But in London, it was another disastrous day for Baltimore which fell almost 20 per cent after issuing yet another warning about first-quarter sales.

Baltimore had staged a tentative recovery after the mishandled earnings warning in late March, but all those gains were lost yesterday as investors reacted negatively to the news that first-quarter sales would now be no more than £23.7 million sterling (€38.22 million).

Almost 25 million Baltimore shares traded as the share fell 18p to 74p sterling with little sign that it would recover until there were clear signs that Baltimore would cut its cost base aggressively.

With Vodafone easing back in London, Eircom fell back three cents to €2.53, while AIB drifted two cents to €11.98. Bank of Ireland was nine cents firmer on €10.09, while Anglo Irish Bank was unchanged on €3.60. Zurich has disclosed that it was a recent seller of Anglo Irish and unloaded 1.3 million shares last week.

The biggest trading in Dublin was in Fyffes which gained five cents to €1.00 on turnover of 2.6 million shares as the market reacted positively to the settlement of the transatlantic banana war. Delayed reaction to good results and upgrades helped IFG jump 31 cents to a new high of €2.85.

Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) has emerged as the buyer of the 7 per cent chunk of Sherry FitzGerald sold last week by directors. BIAM now holds 11 per cent of the estate agent. In another disclosure, a British investment house has sold 250,000 Qualceram shares to take its stake to 1 million shares or 4.77 per cent.