SHARE prices closed down sharply but the prospects for a modest recovery seem reasonable given the late morning recovery on Wall Street. Dealers said that they expect the market to open firmer - bar a late sell-off on the US stock market.
Share prices were lower across the board but most of the volume was concentrated on the two main financial stocks. AIB closed 6p. lower on 382p while Bank of Ireland was also 6p lower on 503p. Other financials also closed lower with Irish Life and Irish Permanent both 3p lower on 270p and 482p respectively.
Among the industrials, trading was in smaller volumes and CRH dealt down 2p to 598p but Smurfit actually bucked the trend and gained 1p to 165p.
Second-line industrials were generally lower with Fyffes off 3p on 106p while Greencore was also 3p lower on 364p.
IAWS was unchanged on 158 1/2p with turnover figures showing that more than £10 million worth of IAWS stock was dealt and matched, indicating that nearly 3 per cent of IAWS's total equity changed hands in recent days.
Gilts were quiet as the market waited for news on the EMU deliberations in Dublin Castle. The market turned positive when news emerged that agreement had been reached on the stability pact and gilt prices were stronger especially at the longer end of the yield curve.
Five-year gilts were 45p higher on a closing yield of 6.15 per cent 10s were 75p higher on a closing yield on 6.69 per cent while 20-year gilts closed 95p higher on a closing yield of 6.92 per cent.
