Yesterday's strong rebound on international markets produced solid gains for most of the Irish stocks. The view in the market is still very cautious, with many believing that investors are facing an extended period of price weakness punctuated by occasional rallies.
The 5 cent price rise might not have been dramatic but a 6 per cent rise by Vodafone and generally firm telecom stocks produced heavy trading in Eircom, where more than nine million shares traded as the share closed on €2.40.
Most of the large capitalisation stocks were well up on the day, with AIB regaining 57 cents to €11.05 while Bank of Ireland was 55 cents firmer on €9.15.
Among the industrials, CRH was 25 cents higher at €16.75 while Smurfit gained 4 cents to €1.92 in turnover of more than 2.1 million shares. Kingspan regained another 25 cents to €3.90 and has now recovered most of its recent losses. Independent also recovered, closing 15 cents higher on €2.50.
Ryanair gained 40 cents to €10.00 but Marlborough fell 25 cents to €0.50. The shares are less than one-tenth of their high of two years ago.
Baltimore continued to suffer from reaction to last Friday's trading statement. It was unchanged while the Techmark gained more than 3.5 per cent.
Datalex bounced back almost $1 1/2 to $8 - again in minuscule trading - and has now recovered all the recent weeks' losses. Other technology stocks to firm were Iona and Parthus, although Smartforce was weaker.
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