The uncertainty over the US economy which depressed markets overnight continued to weigh heavily on trading on the home market where there were losses virtually across the board. Trading volumes were small, apart from the two big banking stocks while technology shares suffered as a result of the Nasdaq malaise.
The extraordinarily negative reaction to Trintech's full-year results continued. The shares dropped another 31 per cent on the Neuer Markt to #2.96 - almost half the IPO price - and were trading almost a dollar lower on the Nasdaq on $23/4.
Given that Trintech says that it's on course to move into profit in the fourth quarter, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that this week's selling of the shares has been overdone. A downgrade to "hold" from Prudential has, however, not helped Trintech's cause.
The biggest trading in Dublin was in AIB where 4.1 million shares traded as the stock fell 17 cents to #11.78. Bank of Ireland traded in lower volumes as it fell 14 cents to #10.34 although Irish Life bucked the downward trend with a 12 cent rise to #13.29.
Almost two million James Crean shares - 4.3 per cent of the total - went through the market as the share fell a cent to match its all-time low of #0.21. Some institutional investor seems to have lost patience with Crean. Foot-and-mouth worries depressed food shares. Glanbia, Golden Vale and IAWS were all lower.
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