Eircom proves the exception during quiet session

Dublin Report:The Iseq had a quiet end to the week yesterday, with volumes easing off and prices remaining fairly steady.

An exception came in Eircom, where 3.5 million shares changed hands. The stock gave up some of its recent strength by falling five cent to €2.01, but dealers said that it had attracted good support at that level.

Jurys Doyle was also busy, with volume of 1.3 million shares recorded in Dublin and further business conducted in London. The stock continued to move ahead, closing 55 cent stronger at €18.50.

CRH was weaker as sellers simply outnumbered buyers. It closed 25 cent lower at €22.60.

Ryanair was unchanged at €6.80 after saying again it would not add a fuel levy to its prices.

Greencore was particularly strong, rising by 15 cent to €3.73. Dealers said the market was abuzz with the potential return that the company could draw from selling off land.

Readymix surged for a similar reason, gaining 30 cent to close at €2.50. It emerged earlier in the week that property developer Gerry Gannon had taken a position in the stock.

Elsewhere, Grafton gained ground in advance of Tuesday's interim numbers. Shares ended the session at €9.04, up 14 cent. NCB expects the firm to post earnings growth of 30.9 per cent.

Independent News & Media, which reports on Tuesday, added five cent to reach €2.51. Fyffes was upgraded due to Thursday's numbers. The fruit firm shed one cent to close at €2.58.

Paddy Power, which reported last week, had another good day, gaining 39 cent to close at €14.80

The financials were very quiet, with AIB losing 10 cent to close at €17.88 and Bank of Ireland falling by 15 cent to €13.12.

Irish Life & Permanent also drifted, finishing two cent weaker at €14.98. Bucking the trend was Anglo Irish, which rose by five cent to €11.30.

After the market closed, Abbey said it had bought 1,917,739 of its own shares at €8.95 each. It now holds 8.9 per cent of its own stock.