Telecom Eireann dominated activity on the Irish Stock Exchange on its first day's trading, creating an initial euphoria that matched the carnival-like atmosphere at the unveiling of its €3.90 (£3.07) price on Wednesday.
Telecom went as high as €5.30 (£4.17) in a large trade early in the day before subsiding to €4.62 (£3.64) in 116 deals as profit-taking set in.
Dealers reported a broad range of buyers and sellers in Dublin and London, with many overseas institutions taking advantage of being able to turn a quick 30 per cent profit.
The ISEQ index, of which Telecom will not form a part until July 21st, operated in isolation from other bourses as European stock exchanges reversed early gains in tandem with the Dow Jones industrial average which opened lower on profit-taking.
The modest 0.6 per cent rise in the ISEQ reflected the light trading in other stocks.
Bank trading had AIB lose 1 cent to €13.73 (£10.81) but Bank of Ireland consolidated its mid-week gain and closed up 14 cents to €18.04 (£14.21).
Irish Life & Permanent was back 5 cents to €11.40 (£8.98) and Anglo Irish slipped one cent to €2.54 (£2.00).
Among the industrials, CRH was up 20 cents to €19.10 (£15.04), within sight of its all-time high of €19.15, following its announcement of the acquisition of a US company, Thompson-McCully. Smurfit also made gains, closing 8 cents up at €2.58 (£2.03).
Irish Continental Group was up 15 cents to €12.15 (£9.57) on buoyant interim results, due to strong freight returns. The ferry group made a pre-tax profit of €2.6 million (£2.1 million) in the six months to April 30th, and subsidiary Irish Ferries announced that it had commissioned the building of a super-cruise ferry.
In New York, Elan rallied in mid-day trading, rising $0.375 to $28.875 (€28.37) following the news of a breakthrough in an Alzheimer's Disease-treating drug.
