With London having its best one-day performance for five months on the back of a resounding recovery by Vodafone and with New York closing higher in its half-day session, the Irish market managed to close slightly higher although trading volumes remained pitiful. Not a single stock traded more than one million shares and there is little interest in the market.
Most of the attention remains focused on Eircom which dealt down 10 cents to €2.70 as news of Telia's intentions are awaited with some eagerness. But even if Telia does agree to lock up its shares for six months, as is expected, many in the market believe that KPN is likely to defer its secondary offering until September in the hope the Eircom price will recover.
Major financial shares were stronger in small volumes with AIB up 7 cents on €9.44 and Bank of Ireland up 10 cents on €6.70. CRH, however, was hit by some profit-taking and lost 17 cents to €18.73, although Smurfit managed to regain 2 cents to €1.82.
Star performer of the day was ITG which jumped 53 cents to €11.50 but other second-liners were generally lower, with Adare off 50 cents to €8.00 as buyout news is awaited, Arnotts 33 cents lower on €6.57 while Golden Vale lost 4 cents to €1.08.
Trintech was the best of the technology stocks. In Frankfurt it jumped €2.01 to €22.21 while the stock closed 61 cents higher on $20.31 on Nasdaq. Conduit, however, lost 39 cents to €16.50, although both Parthus and Baltimore were stronger in London, where Parthus closed 13 1/2p higher on £2.00 sterling while Baltimore gained 10p to £5.10 sterling.
