The arrival of Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Consortium as a potential bidder helped to push Eircom shares to their highest level since the end of December, with the shares closing four cents higher on €2.69.
Turnover in Dublin was 1.8 million shares but almost three times that number traded in London where Eircom was at €2.70 at the close, a gain of 10 cents on the day. Dealers do not expect much further appreciation for the shares until it becomes clear whether any of the approaches to Eircom translate into formal bids.
Otherwise there was little action among leading industrial and financial shares, although the exception was Smurfit where 3.6 million shares traded as the stock rose three cents to €2.03. Among the financials, AIB gained 22 cents to €12.22 in thin turnover while Bank of Ireland closed at €10.28.
Industrial shares were mixed, with CRH drifting 21 cents to €17.94 while Dunloe Ewart jumped four cents to €0.44 after Friday's announcement of €156 million worth of property sales. Fyffes lost four cents to €1.00 while ITG jumped 40 cents to €6.50 after announcing a distribution agreement for Eircell's ready-to-go phones.
On overseas markets, Elan was up almost 3 per cent by midday on the NYSE on $49.49 after good first-quarter results. Baltimore was 2-1/2 p higher on 73-3/4p sterling - Fidelity has continued a seller and has fallen below the 3 per cent disclosure level. This means that Fidelity has sold more than 3.5 million shares in the past week. Parthus lost 8p to 90-1/2p sterling ahead of first-quarter results later this week.
