Irish Life buys back 2.7 million shares

Irish Life continued the current craze for share buybacks when it went into the market yesterday and bought back more than 2.7 million shares at €12.65 at a cost of almost €35 million in a day of heavy trading in some selected stocks. Overall almost eight million Irish Life shares traded between the Dublin and London markets and the stock firmed 25 cents in Dublin to close on the €12.65 buyback price - now seen as a floor for the shares.

Bank of Ireland was another to trade in size with more than eight million shares trading between the Dublin and London markets as the share gained 18 cents to €9.30. The size of the turnover led some to speculate that B of I might be using up some of its surplus capital to buy back shares although there was no firm evidence of such a move. Others said that the demand for the shares was mainly the result of the excellent recent interim results.

Anglo Irish benefited from bumper results with a 10 cent jump to €2.88 - a fraction off its all-time high - with more than 2.2 million shares trading in Dublin. Dealers said that further gains for Anglo are likely as the market digest expected upgraded from analysts. AIB might be the biggest bank but it was the dullest yesterday, rising just one cent to €12.93 in thin turnover.

The continued uncertainty over the Vodafone/Eircell deal weighed heavily on Eircom for the second successive day and the share fell as low as €2.67 before closing 15 cents lower on €2.77. That's a long way from the €3.35 reached immediately after the €2.2 billion bid for the fixed-line business by Denis O'Brien's e-Island grouping.

Fyffes' freefall continued with no sign of a halt with almost 4.7 million shares trading as the share fell another two cents to 68 cents. This is the stock's lowest level for more than 10 years, according to the Davy Weekly Book.

CRH regained 40 cents to €16.90 but Independent took a sudden downward turn, falling 40 cents to a year's low of €3.00. Smurfit lost five cents to €1.99 while Baltimore fell to its lowest level of the year, with a 23p slide to £3.18 sterling in London. Green, which bought back 6.1 million shares on Monday at €7.20 - more than 5 per cent of the shares in issue - was five cents lower on €6.90.