Investors in the Irish stock market must be wondering what happened to the Celtic Tiger in the first half of 1999. Although the economy boomed, the market fell by 3.6 per cent in contrast to a rise of 7.6 per cent on average from European markets.

In fact the best performing stock market in Europe was Finland. Indeed, there must be something in the air in the Nordic countries as the exchanges in Stockholm and Oslo were ranked third and fourth respectively in the performance tables.

Much of this stellar performance can be put down to the narrow base of these markets. In Finland, Nokia accounts for a dominant 55 per cent of market capitalisation whilst oil companies, which boomed in the first half of 1999, also form a large part of the Nordic exchanges.

In contrast the Irish exchange is bereft of integrated oil and telecommunication stocks, but maybe the arrival of Telecom Eireann will improve matters in the second half of the year.