Low volume trading provided the only solace to Telecom Eireann investors who saw their stock slip 1.6 per cent or seven cents yesterday to a new low of €4.31 (£3.39), 69 cents short of its high of €5 (£3.94) on July 22nd. But dealers said it had been trading well in the €4.34-4.35 range.

Trading on the banks was also in small volumes indicating a lack of institutional interest. AIB was back three cents to €11.82 (£9.31) while Bank of Ireland gained 10 cents, closing at €8.72 (£6.87)

Otherwise, second line stocks continued to provide the focus of interest following financier Dermot Desmond's declaration on Tuesday that he had built up a 6.23 per cent stake in Golden Vale.

"With the FTSE SmallCap index up 30 per cent on the year to date, people are realising there is very good value left in the Irish second line stock," one dealer said.

He added that food stocks had been "so cheap for so long" that investors had naturally turned to them. Golden Vale dealt one cent higher yesterday to €1.16 (91p), while Greencore was up five cents to €3.05 (£2.40). Glanbia was back five cents to €1.35 (£1.06) and Fyffes pared one cent, closing at €1.85 (£1.46).

Among the industrial stocks, Clondalkin eased back 20 cents to €8.30 (£6.54), after rising from €5.90 (£4.65) in the past two weeks, as the print and packaging company remains tight-lipped about the proposed management buy-out.

Smurfit, meanwhile, continued to perform on the strength of box shipment figures and a sectoral comment from Goldman Sachs who said it remains bullish on the paper industry overall. It has reiterated its `Market Outperforms' rating for Smurfit which rose three cents to €2.88 (£2.27). In New York, its associate, Smurfit-Stone, was up more than 3 per cent to €30.875 (€29.33)in mid-day trade.

On the Nasdaq, where another Irish company, Trintech, has declared its intention to list, Esat Telecom, was up 6.8 per cent to €40.25 (€38.23).