A combination of profit-taking, the weakness on Wall Street in the wake of the December employment report and the continued meltdown on Asian markets combined to drive the Irish market sharply lower. But it is still well up on its closing level for 1997, with the extraordinary burst of buying in the first half of the week underpinning the market.
Those that gained the most last Monday and Tuesday fell furthest in yesterday's trading. Bank of Ireland lost 30p to £11.22, AIB was 20p weaker on 725p while Irish Life - a star performer this week - shed 5p to 423p on profit-taking. The biggest loss in real terms was the 7p fall to 140p by Anglo Irish Bank with no obvious reason why Anglo should have suffered so much.
Industrials were mixed and CRH regained some early lost ground but still closed down 12p on 858p while Smurfit lost 3p to 200p. Going against the trend was Arnotts - up another 20p to 560p and up a phenomenal 21 per cent in the first week of 1998 trading.
Golden Vale has been another strong performer this week and gained another 4p to 96p, bringing the share into territory it has not seen for four years, while Donegal Creameries, the junior food company on the market, rose 5p to 260p and is now almost £1 above its mid-December flotation price. Fyffes was up 1p on 118p and well-bid ahead of expected good results on Monday and on speculation that the results might be accompanied by a share buy-back.
