SOME of the fizz finally went out of both bond and equity markets in Dublin, as investors used the absence of any fresh economic figures to take some profit from the market. This weakness filtered through to the equity market, but overall trading volumes were well down on the record levels of the past few weeks.
The five and 10 year benchmark bonds were down 42p and 50p respectively and the 2001 stock closed on a yield of 5.97 per cent with the 2006 bond yielding 6.77 per cent. The differential over German bonds also widened for the first time in weeks, but dealers believe that any further widening will simply result in a renewed bout of convergence buying by overseas investors.
There was little of note on the equity market and financial shares were pretty much unchanged. Bank of Ireland was unchanged on 500p in a late deal AIB eased 1/2p lower to 375p although Irish Permanent bounced back 6p to close at its recent high of 460p. Hibernian did not trade from its overnight 285p but one of its biggest shareholders, AIB Investment Managers, has emerged as a recent heavy seller of the shares.
AIBIM sold 2.1 million Hibernian shares last week to reduce its stake from 15.6 per cent to 11.6 per cent. Six months, ago, AIBIM had a stake of over 17 per cent in Hibernian.
Among the industrials, CRH lost 4p to 641p while Smurfit was 1p firmer on 172p after JS Corp jumped $3/8 to $12 3/4 on Wall Street on Friday night. Independent was unchanged on 338p despite having to increase its offer for Wilson & Horton. In London, Pan Andean managed a 5p gain to 42p after its disastrous collapse last week.
