The bloodletting in Irish technology stocks was the main feature of an otherwise pretty dull day, where shares prices were generally lower on profit-taking after Monday's all-time high.
On the home market, Horizon's profits warning was the highlight and resulted in the shares - which traded as high as €14.00 last year - halving in price in early trading before they recovered marginally to close on €2.19, a fall of €1.86 on the day. Turnover in the shares, however, was very low with less than 100,000 shares changing hands.
Turnover in Horizon might have been small, but there was massive trading in Baltimore in London where more than 30 million shares - six times the daily average - traded as the share fell 18-1/2 to 66-1/4p sterling. The market is still unconvinced that Baltimore will be able to trade its way out of its current problems and is particularly concerned that the group might run out of money before it reaches profitability in the middle of next year.
Most of the leading financial and industrial stocks were lower on profit-taking, with AIB down 37 cents to €13.05 while Bank of Ireland drifted three cents to €11.43. CRH was unchanged on €19.85 while Eircom was a cent easier on €1.13 pending news on the various approaches. The biggest volume on the day was in Irish Life where 2.6 million traded as the share lost 13 cents to €12.85.
