Weakness in the major financial shares was the main reason behind yesterday's setback for the ISEQ, but dealers said there was no rush to sell Irish stocks and there was bid interest at the lower levels.
Speculation that Lafarge may bid for Blue Circle stimulated interest in CRH and the share closed 46 cents ahead on €19.42 (£15.29). The other big industrial, Eircom, drifted lower on profit-taking and closed 6 1/2 cents lower on €4.08 1/2 (£3.22) with last Friday's black-out in Dublin not seen as a major factor.
Among the financials which had a good run last week, Bank of Ireland was the weakest and fell 25 1/4 cents to €8.50 (£6.69) while AIB was 12 cents easier on €13.53 (£10.51). Irish Life & Permanent gave up some of its recent gains and lost 15 cents to €10.50 (£8.27).
Elsewhere, Greencore continued to gain ground ahead of results next month and closed 8 1/2 cents higher on €2.55 (£2.01) although Ryanair was hit by profit-taking and dipped 35 cents off its high to €10.40 (£8.19). Tullow, however, got a big boost from the nine-year high for oil prices and closed 12 cents higher on €1.10 (87p).
On NASDAQ, Baltimore was trading 10 per cent higher just below $48 after getting a "buy" tag from Lehman. The investment bank put a £35 sterling price target on the shares which closed 87 1/2p higher in London on £28.12 sterling.
Irish technology stocks were generally firmer on overseas market with Iona, Esat and Trinity Biotech all trading higher on NASDAQ. Trintech did not trade from its overnight $26 1/4 on NASDAQ, but on the Frankfurt Neuer Markt, the shares dealt up €1.50 to €24.50 (ú19.30).
