THE Dublin market had a fairly listless week and traders say it, looks as if it has now moved into summer trading and is likely to continue to drift sideways.
However, individual stocks did move. Independent Newspapers saw much heavier volume than usual with around £22 million of stock changing hands. The Portuguese newspaper group, Jornalgeste, has sold its entire share holding in Independent Newspapers.
Market sources confirmed that the Portuguese group sold its 1.5 per cent stake in order to raise around £8 million for expansion in the Portuguese market. The company recently expanded into radio in Portugal.
Adare gained substantial ground "even after former director Mr Bernard Somers disclosed that he sold 100,000 shares last week. It was one of the biggest gainers in the Dublin market putting on more than 22p in just two days.
Arcon also gained against the overall trend as US fund management group Capitol disclosed it had a stake of just over 5 per cent.
Heavy trading in Tullow shares continued. Tullow announced it wanted to sell its oil and gas interests in Britain to concentrate on further exploration and appraisal activities in Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
Jurys gained in the run up to the release of its full year results. The record profits announcement, up almost 60 per cent, then boosted the share further to an all time high.
IAWS gained after winning the Mars franchise from Crean. Crean, which will lose more than "£1 million in operating profits, didn't see substantial losses.
CRH suffered a number of sharp falls, tracking London, in general, and the building materials sector in particular lower. The company also announced it was buying a US building firm Allied Building Products for $121 million (£75.6 million) bringing "CRH's spend so far this year to £190 million.
However, it was still the heaviest traded share in Dublin by value over £36 million of the stock changed hands.
IWP also saw good interest after it announced it was expanding into Poland through the acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in Polbita, a distributor of household and personal care products in Poland and eastern Europe.
Other stocks which saw substantial trading during the week include Waterford Wedgwood, where over £9 million of stock changed hands.
Next week, the market will be looking ahead to Irish industrial production figures next Thursday. Analysts say that even if activity slows down over the next few months, the overall increase in production for the year as a whole is again likely to be in double figures. Market forecasts are around the 10 to 12 per cent in volume.
New private car licences on the same day will also be carefully watched. Figures for the first five months of the year show that car sales were buoyant.
