Eircom falls but focus is on London-listed Smart

Dublin Report: It was another quiet day on the Dublin market yesterday, as those investors who were not taking the mid-term break chose to hold fire in advance of tomorrow's maiden performance from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

The market as a whole ended slightly ahead, but volumes were muted and price movements fairly limited.

The big news of the day came from London-listed Smart Telecom, which heard ComReg would not award it a 3G licence after all. The news punished the firm's shares, which ended 4.5p or 16.5 per cent weaker at 22.7p.

Eircom, which lost out on the licence when it was awarded in November, also fell, losing three cent to finish at €2.04. The firm will issue third-quarter results, including a first-time update on Meteor, tomorrow. Takeover talk, in the absence of any further buying from Babcock & Brown, has subsided for the moment.

The banks were solid for the most part, with AIB closing 31 cent stronger at €18.85 and Bank of Ireland holding steady at €14.40. Anglo Irish Bank fell by 13 cent to €12.89, while Irish Life & Permanent shed three cent to finish at €17.29.

CRH also moved lower, closing 15 cent weaker at €26.30. Dealers said the sector had been downgraded by Goldman Sachs.

C&C was strong, ending 16 cent higher at €5.63. Greencore climbed 11 cent to €3.56.

IAWS was in demand too, adding 16 cent to close at €13.46.

Fyffes was one of the busiest stocks, with 3.2 million shares changing hands. With the spin-off of its property arm drawing ever closer, the fruit firm fell by nine cent to €2.10.

Goodbody said banana prices have increased strongly over the past month in continental Europe, but also noted that prices are probably still lower than they were a year ago.

Back in London, Tullow weakened in line with oil prices, falling by 6.75p to 289p. The firm's partner in Uganda said yesterday that drilling began at the jointly-held project's second well over the weekend.