Given the counter-attraction in Ibaraki, it was a remarkably busy day on the Dublin market, with some decent volumes in the banks and takeover target Smurfit. The market closed just under 1 per cent higher, due entirely to solid gains by the banks.
Settlement Day: June 10th
The biggest trading was in Smurfit, where the shares continue to trade in a narrow range as news on the Madison Dearborn approach is awaited. Smurfit closed two cents lower on €3.14 in turnover of 6.8 million shares.
Most of the financial stocks made decent gains with Irish Life & Permanent the pick of the bunch with a 26 cent gain to €16.48. AIB was 12 cents higher on €15 and Bank of Ireland gained 11 cents to €13.70 but high-flying Anglo Irish went against the trend and lost a cent to €6.72.
Among the industrials, Fidelity has emerged as a recent big buyer of Fyffes, disclosing a stake of 7.06 per cent. This indicates that Fidelity has bought 1.6 million Fyffes shares in the past week and now owns just over 25 million shares. CRH added four cents to €18.94 but Elan again came under pressure in both Dublin and New York, closing 47 cents lower on €9.53 in Dublin and trading 28 cents lower by midday on the NYSE on $8.72.
Green was unchanged on €9.14 after confirming that it had received a number of approaches. Glanbia lost five cents to €1.50, while Iona was hit by a profit warning from rival Tibco and was down 57 cents by midday on Nasdaq on $8.03. Jurys - reported to be planning the sale of some of its Dublin three-star hotels - was 22 cents higher on €10.75 in thin volumes, while Waterford Wedgwood was unchanged on €0.65 after first-quarter results, which were marginally below market forecasts.
