Few buyers as shares trade down on low volumes

MARKET REPORT:THE "BUYERS' strike" continued yesterday and the volatility of share prices was based on small volumes of trades. One good buyer or seller could dictate the price movement of a particular share.

The financials again fared badly although AIB rose 3.84 per cent to €3.52 on the back of modest share sales, as traders said there was a decent buyer in the marketplace.

Bank of Ireland fell 3.03 per cent to €1.60 while Anglo Irish ended the day where it started, at €1.80. There was no particular reason for the rise in AIB's share price and the fall in Bank of Ireland's, but there was a reason for the sharp fall in the value of Irish Life Permanent shares.

They fell by 12.63 per cent in value to €3.10 after a reasonable 5 million shares changed hands. The drop in value was caused by reports that Irish Life has an exposure to Icelandic bank debt.

Kingspan's share price rose 5.9 per cent to €4.45, CRH rose by 1.9 per cent to €15.08, and Kerry rose 0.87 per cent to €17.55 on the backs of very small volumes.

Ryanair lifted a bit during the day but by departure time for the traders, the price was down 1.4 per cent to €2.48. Aer Lingus fared equally badly, landing at €1.12, a 4.19 per cent drop, by day's end.

Irish News Media suffered again, dropping a further 8.33 per cent to €0.55 on the back of a substantial 6.6 million share sales. Falling advertising revenues, the exchange rate for the Australian dollar and the South African rand and concerns about the company's refinancing obligations over the coming two years were among the concerns surrounding the share.

ICG finished the day up 3.9 per cent, at €16, on low volumes. A higher rise might have been expected considering news indicating a fresh bid might be on the way, but it appears the general air of negativity and concerns about how any deal might be financed dampened down the reaction.

Settlement date: October 29th