Cautious investors sit on sidelines

The Dublin market proved that international uncertainties have not gone away yesterday when many of its leading stocks slipped back.

Dealers said that investors are sitting on the sidelines until the market "settles down" and there is little enthusiasm at present. Nevertheless, some bargain hunters are in the market and were responsible for the moderate rise in the ISEQ.

AIB, which tends to lead the whole market up or down, slid back from 879p to 875p, a long way off the highs it reached before world markets nose-dived. Bank of Ireland was equally weak, falling from 1070p to 1065p in notably thin trading.

Dealers said volumes were low throughout the market, which took its lead from a sleepy London, which continues to worry about international trends and the possibility of further earnings downgrades later in the year.

Some second line stocks are also seeing dips in their prices. "During the panic selling of the last few weeks, some smaller stocks were untouched as people bailed out of the liquid stocks, but now the smaller names are being pegged back too," said a dealer.

Reflecting this has been the hammerings dished out to Adare Printing, the Grafton Group and the Clondalkin Group.

Yesterday Clondalkin was down 17p at 483p, although Grafton stabilised at 1400p.

IWP was one of the second line stocks going against the trend, rising from 257.5p to 275p. At the company's annual general meeting chief executive, Mr Joe Moran warned that the company will suffer sales losses as a result of the Russian economic crisis, but the group remains on target for annual growth of 10 per cent.

Jones Group also had a good day, putting on 15p to close at 180p, amid speculation that it may sell off further parts of its business.