The bloodbath at Elan and the placing of new Ryanair shares dominated events on the markets, although there was solid trading across a range of leading and second-line stocks.
Settlement Day: February 8th
Elan shareholders, who a month ago were looking forward to another good year, are by now well and truly shell-shocked - and the main question is how much lower the share will go before either bottom-pickers drive a recovery or the company becomes the focus of a takeover bid. On the Dublin market, Elan bottomed out at €13.50 before recovering to close €3.50 lower on €16.
Trading on the NYSE saw more huge selling of the stock and, by 7.30 p.m. Irish time, more than 24 million shares had dealt as the share hit a low of $12.50 and then traded in a volatile manner for the rest of the session.
Ryanair's share placing came as no major surprise to the market and the share hit a low of €6 before closing 63 cents lower on €6.20. Dealers believe that, after the roadshow, the 30 million new shares are likely to be placed in the €6.20-€6.30 range.
Elsewhere, prices were generally weaker and, although there was some chunky trading in the banks and some second-liners, there was no mad rush to sell. AIB was down 18 cents on €13.62, while Bank of Ireland dropped 16 cents to €11.32.
DCC fell 15 cents to €11.30 after the news that Hibernian and Eagle Star were suing the company as a result of the Fyffes' insider trading allegations. Fyffes itself fell four cents to €1.12 and there is little support for the shares in the current climate of litigation.
Independent News & Media lost nine cents to €1.90 and CRH was 21 cents lower on €18.20, while Smurfit lost six cents to €2.44, which reflected the boardroom re-organisation later this year.
