Industrial fare worse as investors tackle conflicting signals abroad

On a choppy day in Dublin the markets were torn between the sharp overnight fall in the Hong Kong market and a fairly steady opening on Wall Street. When Wall Street became more volatile later in the day, Irish industrials got the worst of investor nerves over the mixed signals while financials remained reasonably steady. The ISEQ ended the day slightly lower on good volume while most European markets fell back. "The European markets did not know quite what they should do with themselves today," one dealer commented.

CRH ended the day at 798p, down 7p on a late Monday evening deal and at its lowest level of the day. Dealers said the share was offered at 800p and that the weakness probably reflected the 1 per cent fall in the British building materials sector on the day. Smurfit reflected continuing volatility in the US market where JS Corp dropped 14 per cent on Friday before staging a partial recovery with a 6 per cent gain on Monday. In Dublin, group shares closed just over 3p weaker at almost 193p in a sterling deal and offered at that level, according to dealers. Waterford Wedgwood closed unchanged at 75p with some buying interest reported. Greencore dropped 9p to 305p.

Among the food companies, Kerry moved ahead, rising 5p to 810p on good demand from overseas buyers while Avonmore/ Waterford gained ground putting on 2p to close at 262p. One dealer suggested that Avonmore was helped by the latest results from its British competitor, Dairycrest. The financials fared better with good overseas demand for Bank of Ireland which moved steadily ahead before closing 5p stronger at 860p. AIB went up to 581p before slipping in afternoon trading to close 3p down at 575p. Dealers said the strength of Bank of Ireland probably reflected foreign investor demand for exposure to the Irish and British economies rather than the US economy.

Irish Permanent and Irish Life both gained ground closing up 5p and 2p respectively on 660p and 353p. Some second-liners recovered ground lost last week. Hibernian put on 20p to close 470p, Barlo improved 21/2p to close at 56p, Arnotts went 10p ahead to 410p and Green Property put on 15p to close at 420p. Despite positive results, Powerscreen did not trade, although one dealer put the disinterest down to the general lack of inspiration on the day. "Results were bang on line but I think people expect things to be better than expected," he said. Exploration company, Tullow saw a lot of up movement, reflecting continued goodwill towards its "successful testing" of its gas well in Pakistan and an increase in sixmonthly profits announced last week. Last Friday's record 127p was beaten with the shares closing 9p stronger at 136p.