AFTER the Friday selloff on Wall Street and with the London market off almost 1 per cent, the Irish market did well yesterday to confine its losses to a few points off the ISEQ. Turnover was well down on Friday's phenomenal £100 million plus where heavy trading in Smurfit was the dominant factor.
After its sharp rise on Friday, Smurfit drifted 3p lower to 183p but is still well above the 140's at which the share traded not so long ago. The worst may not be over yet for Smurfit, but the indications of an upswing are promising for a share which has been a poor performer.
Elsewhere among the industrials, CRH was 5p lower on 670p, Greencore gained 6p to 325p while IAWS was 3p firmer on 238p. Kerry was 10p lower on 660p, Hibernian was 8p higher on 350p while Tullow was unchanged on 101p after a positive recommendation from company broker Riada.
The main financials were marginally weaker with AIB and Bank of Ireland both 1p easier on 490p and 756p respectively.
The gilt market was dominated by the prospect of a rate rise by the Fed at today's meeting of the Open Markets Committee and also today's auction of £100 million of the benchmark long gilt by the NTMA. Most dealers expect the auction to go well, with plenty demand from pension funds for the long dated stock. The long gilt closed marginally lower on a yield of 6.77 per cent.
