A strong performance in New York failed to boost the Irish market with the uncertainty over Eircom and persistent weakness in financial shares dragging the market lower. Turnover was higher than in recent days, however, but there is still a preponderance of sellers over buyers.
The uncertainty over the KPN share offering and the remaining Telia shareholding meant Eircom remained weak, with the share dipping as low as €2.70 before closing five cents lower on €2.78. That compares with the flotation price of €3.90 and the €3.47 at which the shares were trading before the KPN/Telia shareholding situation deteriorated.
AIB was the subject of some volatile trading involving almost 3.5 million shares - AIB traded as high as €10.00 and as low as €9.30 before closing down 12 cents on the day on €9.36. Bank of Ireland was 19 cents lower on €6.65 although Anglo Irish nudged ahead two cents to €2.32.
Elsewhere Fyffes continued its downward spiral and lost another six cents to €1.15, Greencore regained five cents to €3.70 while Waterford Wedgwood was down five cents on €1.11.
Among technology shares Riverdeep was 35 cents higher on €3.70 in Dublin but was marginally lower by midday on Nasdaq. Other technology shares were trading strongly with Trintech coming out of a bad patch on the Neuer Markt to deal €1.20 to €21.80 and up $1 3/8 to $20 3/4 on Nasdaq. SmartForce was over $2 higher just below $45 1/2 while Iona and Baltimore were also firmer.
