SHARE prices drifted lower on the Dublin market, with some investors deciding to take some profit from the market, although it remains fundamentally sound with no sign of any selling in size.
The gilt market was firm with the NTMA being able to tap £100 million of the five year gilt while the IFOX futures market had one of its most active days ever, with heavy trading in the 10 year gilt future and the DIBOR future.
On the equity market, there were marginal losses for most of the leaders. AIB lost 4p to 353p in very thin trading, Bank of Ireland lost 11/2p to 4551/2p, CRH was unchanged on 458p while Smurfit was 1p easier on 163p.
Second liners were mixed, with Avonmore gaining It 2p to 129p and Independent dropping 13p to 385p in thin trading while IAWS moved 3p higher to 140p.
Among the explorers, Navan gained 4p to 149p while Minmet placed nine million shares at lp each to raise £90,000 for working, capital.
The short end of the curve was the focus of attention on the gilt market and the NTMA had no problem selling off £100 million, of the five year gilt. The 2000 gilt closed on a yield of 6.51 per cent, with 10 year stock on a yield of, 7.25 per cent and the 20 year gilt on a yield of 7.43 per cent.
Record volumes of gilt and interest rate contracts were dealt on the futures market, with 300 gilt contracts and 280 DIBOR contracts being traded. The 580 contracts have an underlying value of £155 million, by far the most valuable trading on the market since IFOX was established in 1989.
