Technology shares once again took a pounding after the overnight news of major cutbacks at Intel and a profits warning and management shake-up at Yahoo. Mainstream shares were also lower in Dublin - driven down by weaker sentiment in London and New York.
On the home market, the biggest trading was in AIB which dipped 16 cents to €11.54 as more than 4.1 million shares traded. There was no great volume in other financial shares but the tide of sentiment seems to have turned for First Active which traded up as high as €3.00 before closing 15 cents higher on €2.82 as almost 1.4 million shares traded. In smaller volumes, Bank of Ireland was down 17 cents on €10.22 while Irish Life and Permanent lost 40 cents to €13.00.
CRH shook off being removed from ABN Amro's portfolio of recommended European stocks and dealt up 11 cents to €18.10 while the nil paid rights were trading 20 cents higher at the close on €7.55. The weakness in telecom stocks, particularly Vodafone, saw Eircom fall sharply and the stock was 13 cents weaker on €2.41.
Grafton benefited from good results and upgrades and was 60 cents higher on a new high of €32.60. Among the food stocks, Kerry continued to recover recent losses and added 15 cents to €13.35 while Glanbia was three cents higher on €0.60.
In London, Baltimore lost 5p to 218p sterling. The next key date for the shares is March 15th when the lock-up on 3i's 7.5 million shares expires. If Baltimore is able to find buyers for the 3i-held shares then there is reason to believe that the shares may recover further with the first stage of the share overhang having been eliminated.
Other technology shares were sharply lower with Iona, Parthus and SmartForce all well down by midday on Nasdaq. An exception to the Nasdaq malaise was clinical trials group Icon which was trading almost 12 per cent higher on $21.37 by the time Dublin closed.
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