Market Report

The Irish market struggled to find its feet yesterday as downward moves in the banks and Elan put pressure on the index as a whole.

AIB was again thwarted in its ambitions to cross the €13.00 barrier, losing 21 cents to close at €12.78 on low volume.

Bank of Ireland was also in poor shape as it dropped 16 cents to close at €10.67.

Anglo Irish also gave up ground, falling seven cents to €13.45. Dealers reported good interest in the stock, with some 1.1 million shares changing hands.

The busiest stock on the day was Fyffes, with volume rising to 3.8 million by the end of the session. Dealers said most activity had come at €1.80, with investors buying into strong banana prices.

Fyffes, which will report results early next month, added two cents to close at €1.80.

Few other stocks put in such a solid performance, although some posted good gains on lesser volume. Iona was rewarded for selling its flagship Artix product to Italian mobile video company, 3 Italy, with shares climbing by 9 per cent to €3.00.

Iona chief executive, Mr Chris Horn, was in upbeat form at the company's a.g.m. last night.

Providence also did well, although shares failed to win back all of Tuesday's 33 per cent fall. The stock added 14 per cent to close at five cents.

IWP climbed by 18 per cent to 20 cents although the move came on very light trade. Ryanair continued to labour against general market uncertainty over oil prices as it fell four cents to €4.26. Irish Continental Group suffered for the same reason, declining by 14 cents to €9.11.

CRH held up reasonably well in the wider context as it fell by just 0.5 per cent to €18.55.

Elan was under pressure in Dublin after shares suffered in New York on Tuesday night. The stock fared better in the US yesterday but fell 10 cents to €17.31 on the Iseq. Eircom was unchanged at €1.43 as it emerged that Capital Research & Management now has a 5.092 per cent holding in the stock.

Dublin ReportSettlement Day: August 20th