Continued strong demand for Eircom and some of the bigger financial shares left the Irish market up more than 1 per cent on the day, with indications that further gains are in the offing.
More than 5.5 million shares traded as speculative money flowed into the stock ahead of a possible deal on the sale of Eircell to Vodafone or some other third party. Opinion in the market is that a deal with Vodafone will be done, which may explain why the shares were still drawing bids at last night's close of €2.87, up 8 cents on the day.
AIB closed six cents lower in Dublin on €11.62, but London traders took a more benevolent view and pushed the shares ahead to a close of €11.92. Given its underperformance in Dublin yesterday, dealers expected AIB to trade upwards when the market opens this morning.
Bank of Ireland saw strong demand and dealt up 14 cents to €8.19, while Irish Life & Permanent, the best of all the financials in recent weeks, jumped 48 cents to €12.00 in volume of almost 3.5 million shares. Even First Active managed to make some gains - presumably on the view that a rising tide raises all boats - and was 7 cents higher on €2.15.
Dunloe Ewart was 1 cent easier on €0.48, but turnover of more than 770,000 shares suggests that Liam Carroll may have been back in the market, adding to his 14.02 per cent stake. Software group Riverdeep dealt up 20 cents to €4.30 in Dublin in turnover of almost 3.6 million shares. Others to trade in size included Smurfit, up 3 cents to €2.01, and Waterford Wedgwood, up 4 cents to €1.36.
