Iseq eases ahead on quiet trading

The Dublin market bucked the trend of European stocks today and was trading slightly ahead at lunchtime.

The Dublin market bucked the trend of European stocks today and was trading slightly ahead at lunchtime.

At 12.20pm the Iseq was 0.5 per cent ahead or 30 points at 6,096.

There was precious little company news to push the market with today's US Memorial Day holiday and a Bank Holiday in Britain.

Among the movers were Aer Lingus, up 3.2 per cent at €1.75 - albeit on very light volumes - and Fyffes, which added 3.7 per cent to €0.83.

Bank of Ireland shares were also in positive territory today, rising over 1.3 per cent to €8.21 by 12.20pm.

Fellow financial stock AIB was marginally behind this afternoon, easing back 0.4 per cent to €12.89 on light volumes.

European stocks were slightly down around midday, falling for the fourth time in five sessions as fresh asset writedown fears at UBS knocked banking shares lower.

Crude oil prices holding above $130 a barrel also continued to put pressure on stocks as concerns over rising inflation persisted.

Nokia retreated, down nearly 2 per cent on market talk that the world's largest cellphone maker may cut its handset prices by as much as 20 per cent in a bid to gain a bigger slice of the market from players like Motorola.
Shares in Nokia's Asian rival LG Electronics tumbled more than 8 per cent on the rumours.

At 11.50am, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.1 per cent at 1,320.83 points, after falling 3.2 per cent last week.