It was the case of the dog that didn't bark on the Dublin market, as fears of a major slide in share prices proved unfounded. Dublin prices were marked down at the opening, but by late afternoon calm was restored after Wall Street's solid opening.
While the ISEQ index fell by 1.13 per cent, trading volumes were low. Volumes were also low in London.
The calm tone on international bond markets did much to support the equity markets. Receding fears of an interest rate rise in the US this week helped the international bond markets and bond prices in Dublin firmed. Yields on Government bonds fell modestly as a result, with the benchmark 1996 stocks yielding 6.306 per cent, down from 6.338 per cent at the end of last week.
In response to the sharp late fall in Wall Street on Friday, most investors in Dublin decided to sit on their hands. Trading volumes were light, even allowing for the normal fall-off in the holiday period, and traders reported no signs of heavy selling.
However, investors will be keeping a close eye on Wall Street and London in the days ahead in the light of widely expressed views that the long bull run in international markets may be petering out.
The counter view is that investors, both here and internationally, still have plenty of cash to put into the markets and that the economy backdrop remains broadly positive.
In Dublin the main stocks to suffer yesterday were the financial shares which have had a strong run over the past year. The ISEQ financial index fell by 1.25 per cent.
AIB dropped 8p to 585p in trading in Dublin, while Bank of Ireland lost 12p to 790p, having traded as low as 788p. Irish Permanent fell back by 8p to 657p.
The ISEQ general index lost just over 1 per cent. Among the leading industrials, Smurfit eased 6p to 224p, while CRH fell 11p to 726p.
But it was not all red ink on the Dublin market. Some second-line stocks saw modest buying interest, with Kingspan up 15p to 915p and Grafton rising 30p to 1100p. Ryanair stabilised after last week's decline, trading down just 1p to 344p.
