The dog days of summer continued to affect the Irish market, with negligible price movements and low turnover marking the day's trading. There is little interest in the market and even the technology/telecoms sector - revitalised of late after a big upturn - was hit by profit-taking and a negative reaction to a profits warning by sector heavyweight Ericsson.
Confirmation of the Telia six-month lock-up did little to boost Eircom although the share did hit €2.80 before closing just one cent higher on €2.73. Realistically, while the Telia lock-up will allow KPN go ahead with its secondary offering for Eircom shareholders the lock-up means little in the short-term.
Telia's 14 per cent stake is set to weigh on the shares for at least the next six months and only when that stake is securely placed will the share have any prospect of staging a recovery. Eircom's private investors have little option but to sit tight until then.
The only volume of any size was once again in Independent where 1.8 million shares traded as the stock lost another five cents to €3.20. Fyffes briefly fell below the €1.00 mark and dealt at €0.99 before closing unchanged at the overnight €1.00. Volume in the stock was much lower than in recent weeks and dealers believe that most of the DCC-held shares bought by overseas institutions have now been unloaded.
There was little action in any of the leaders although a sharp fall because of profit-taking by Elan was the main reason for the fall in the general index. Among second-liners, however, Abbey jumped 35 cents to €3.00, ITG fell 35 cents to €9.95 while the extraordinary volatility in Marlborough continued with the share jumping 40 cents to €1.80. Big price movements in tiny volumes are the feature of trading in Marlborough these days.
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