Low volumes as market slows ahead of Christmas

Markets: Low volumes and patchy trade suggested that most of the activity on the Dublin market yesterday was at various Christmas parties.

The ISEQ index of Irish shares gained 20.73 points to close at 6,111.54 on a day where business ground to a virtual standstill in the afternoon.

The most significant piece of corporate news was a profit warning from construction matierials group Readymix. However, the company announced the bad news after close of business and its share price remained unchanged at €1.85.

Dealers said that the financials were once again the focus of what little trade there was. Anglo Irish Bank came off its €17.85 price to close 27 cents down at €17.58, with 1.3 million shares changing hands.

AIB gained 13 cents to close at €14.85, after around 2.26 million shares traded.

Bank of Ireland dipped 13 cents to €11.65 on volumes of just over two million shares.

Jurys Doyle Hotels closed at an extremely healthy €12 on the sale of just 5,000 shares.

Dealers said yesterday that there were few sellers of the stock in the market, but a number of prospective buyers had been "sniffing around" the group during the day.

"It's a bid-only price, there were no sellers around," one said.

Among the other heavy hitters, Elan added 90 cents to close at €21.15, but its New York quote looked set to dip slighty following an announcement yesterday afternoon that two directors had sold 418,000 shares, just over 0.9 per cent of the company, between them.

There was some trade in Independent News & Media, which dropped two cents to €2.28 after a comparatively busy day in which 964,000 shares were sold.

Ryanair was quiet by the low-cost airline's standards, with volumes in Dublin of just 991,000.

It dropped two cents to finish at €5.28.

Settlement Day: December 15th