Worries over Clinton saga cast haunting shadow over market

The Dublin market was "sluggish" yesterday, according to dealers, with most of the leaders rising only modestly. While Asian markets stabilised, worries in New York about President Clinton's position are continuing to haunt Dublin, with some dealers expecting falls later this week.

The main news of the day was the announcement that Dalgety is to sell off its food ingredients and flour milling division to the Kerry Group for £335 million.

Dealers say they need more information before fully reacting to the deal and some speculated that Kerry might have to raise fresh equity.

Kerry did not put on any demonstration for the market, so dealers are holding back for the moment, although there is general acceptance the deal is earnings enhancing.

Kerry's share price is expected to move over the next week as the deal is slowly absorbed by the market. Dealers will also want to know if Kerry intends to sell off any of the Dalgety businesses.

Avonmore Waterford continued its recent strong run with a rise of 2p to 302p.

According to dealers, the main reason for this was the news that Northern Foods is breaking away from the competitive British milk market by carving out its dairy division into a separate company, Express Dairies. Dealers said yesterday that with more rationalisations expected in the milk sector, Avonmore would continue to look attractive.

The recent gains for the Ryan Hotels Group continued with a 5p gain to 82p. Dealers said the main reason is the lack of attractive stock in that range of market capitalisation in the market.

The first liners were weak enough compared to recent weeks, with Allied Irish Bank rising 4p to 732p and Irish Life adding 3p to close on 443p. The main second liner inching upward was Arnotts, up 2p at 635p.

Among those taking a fall were Clondalkin down 5p to 650p, Don- egal Creameries, down 5p to 245p, Fyffes down 4p to 131p, and Irish Permanent down 5p to 840p.

Government bonds remained flat amid thin volumes with most dealers waiting for them to cheapen up over the next few days.

This week sees industrial production figures and the November retail sales figures, but they are not considered to have the potential to move the markets in a major way.

More eyes will be on Federal Reserve chairman, Mr Alan Greenspan, when he addresses the US Senate on Thursday.