The Irish market closed marginally lower in thin trading after the early sell-off in New York on the back of IBM's profits warning stunned the market. But trading levels were very low and there was no evidence of any great selling pressure as prices drifted lower.
There was substantial trading among the Irish stocks on Nasdaq, with Trintech, Smartforce, Iona and Esat all trading in size.
Recent arrival Trintech got a boost from two upgrades to "buy" from Robertson Stephens and DB Alex Brown which saw the share rise as high as $19.25 on Nasdaq before it settled back to trade $2.50 higher on the day at $18 (€16.66) as the Irish market closed. On the Neuer Markt, it hit a high of €16.30 before closing €1.90 higher at €15.70 (£12.36).
Esat's debt and equity offerings were well-received and, even though the placing of 3.15 million shares represents a 16 per cent dilution, Esat traded $1 higher on Nasdaq to $43.75 (€40.50) as the Irish market closed.
Profit-taking continued to hit Iona after last week's big rises, and the shares were trading $1.69 lower on $18.06 (€16.72). Smartforce (formerly CBT) regained some of the huge losses earlier in the week and was €1.75 higher on $18.25 (€16.90) as Dublin wound up proceedings for the day.
In Dublin, Smurfit was the beneficiary of a positive "buy" note from Warburg Dillon Read, but negative sector sentiment continues to dog the stock, which closed eight cents lower on €2.45 (£1.93).
Eircom was 11/2 cents up on €3.83 1/2 (£3.02), AIB was five cents down on €11.85 (£9.33) while Bank of Ireland slipped five cents to €7.45 (£5.87). The recent big gains by CRH tapered away and the share edged 10 cents higher to €18.50 (£14.57) while, among second-liners, Grafton dropped 50 cents to €21 (£16.54).
In the exploration sector, Ivernia had a big after-hours jump, rising 13 cents to 90 cents (71p) for no immediately apparent reason.
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