SHARES firmed yesterday after Tuesday's plunge in Wall Street's wake although dealers said trade volumes low. Share values showed some bounce in the morning and held most of their value even after the New York markets opened.
"On balance, things were firm," one analyst said. "These are nervous times, but there are still plenty of people in the Dublin market willing to buy on weakness."
In the short term, many investors appeared to have fixed their attention on tomorrow's US non farm payrolls data for signs of potentially inflationary growth in jobs and further clues to the likelihood of another cut in interest rates by tee US Federal Reserve.
Dealers said comments in the press yesterday by an unnamed Federal Reserve official were being interpreted as a hint that another hike was on the way.
Investors also await domestic borrowing figures for the first quarter and Central Bank statistics, both due today.
The main financial stocks showed significant recovery, with Allied Irish Banks regaining two thirds of its losses to close up 12p at 427p. Bank of Ireland also made up some ground, rising from 605p to end trading up 7p at 612p.
But while Irish Life did manage to rise marginally above its previous close of 318p in a sterling deal, Irish Permanent slipped 5p with shares ending the day at 590p.
Among the leading industrial stocks, there was considerable, trading in shares of CRH, which ended the day up 5p at 620p. Paper and packaging giant Smurfit slipped half a penny to close on 162 1/2p. Among the second liners, the Clondalkin Group fell a full 10p to 590p, Kingspan also dropped 10p to close at 660p, while Fyffes closed down 3p on 100p.
In the agribusiness sector, Kerry Group stayed flat at 630p, as did Waterford Foods on 73p, while Golden Vale dropped just a half a penny to close on 58 1/2p.
Greencore fell during the session but recovered to close unchanged at 350p.
Waterford Wedgwood saw some trading but its shares closed where they had begun the day, on 87p.
Woodchester, whose parent company, the troubled French state bank Credit Lyonnais has put it up for sale, was also the focus of some attention, ending down 1p at 275p.
