THE Irish market managed to regain some of its poise in thin trading yesterday but, with Wall Street finally running into some profit taking, the market may find it difficult to consolidate further on Monday.
The absence of any significant corporate news has done little to help sentiment although full year results from AIB next week may provide a stimulus.
Financial shares were firmer after their recent bond induced weakness and AIB gained 4p to 351p ahead of those results. Bank of Ireland, however, was 3p easier on 438p while Irish Life and Irish Permanent were unchanged on 248p and 400p respectively.
There was little change among the industrials. CRH was well bid but ended down a penny at 500p, while Smurfit was up 1/2p on 148 1/2p. Greencore was unchanged at 552p despite reports that beet farmers are looking for a share of profits more commensurate with the contribution that sugar makes to Greencore's profits.
James Crean lost 5p to 220p as the next instalment on the Inishtech saga is awaited and Green Property gained 8p in a late deal to 190p, while IWP eased 8p to 432p. Kerry, which traded heavily on Thursday, was unchanged on 505p. Waterford Wedgwood regained 13/p to 59 1/4p after the big sale of 24 million shares by Tiger Management at 57 1/2p The departure of Tiger is seen as positive for the shares, as Tiger was regarded as a loose holder.
