THE market fell back slightly in light trading yesterday. A holiday in the US for Columbus Day meant most international markets were quiet and the main feature on the Dublin market was light profit taking, traders said.
The market is looking ahead to Smurfit and IAWS results today and trading in these two stocks was one of the main features of an otherwise lacklustre session.
Smurfit closed down 1p at 168p a share while IAWS put on 2p to end the session at 173p.
The main financial groups also fell back, with AIB closing down 2p at 372p and Bank of Ireland losing 3p to end at 502p. Irish Permanent put on 1p to close at 458p.
Tullow Oil experienced some profit taking and fell back 12p to 85p or 87p sterling. Bula Resources was up 1/8p to 2 5/8p after news that it had successfully tested oil at the Salmskoye oil field in western Siberia, in which it has a 50 per cent stake.
Miamet failed to trade after it announced a cash placing of 11.1 million new shares with GFM International, an affiliate of metropolitan Life. Metropolitan now holds around 9.9 per cent of the company.
Government bonds also had a quiet day, although some small gains were made.
The market was also held backs by the US holiday and traders are looking ahead to a week of important data releases in Britain. The focus is on tomorrow's public spending, unemployment and earnings data.
Convergence trading, which has been the main catalyst behind the dramatic gains in bonds over recent weeks, has dried up temporarily, traders said.
The 8 per cent bond due 2000 edged up to 107.08p to yield 5.88 per cent from 5.93 per cent, while the 8 per cent bond due 2006 rose to 107.93p to yield 6.75 per cent from 6.77 per cent.
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