The ISEQ index rose 55 points to 5,897 this morning but eircom shed 2 cents despite the news that Mr Denis O'Brien had launched a renewed bid for eircom's fixed-line and multimedia divisions.
While the markets digested the latest approach for eircom, smaller companies led the market higher. Green Property gained 22 cents to euro 7.62 and Heitons added 10 cents to euro 3.65 in anticipation of an interest rate cut by the Bank of England.
The financial sector was flat again today with Bank of Ireland off 5 cents at euro 10.30 and AIB down 2 cents to euro 12.78.
Eircom fell 2 cents to euro 2.54 despite the eIsland approach, rumoured to value the fixed-line and multimedia business at euro 1.10 per share.
The debt-laden European telecom sector came under heavy selling pressure after France Telecom was cutting euro 10 billion off the flotation value of mobile subsidiary Orange. Orange is set to go public next week.
Ryanair recovered 45 cents to euro 12.25 after yesterday's strong interims and its announcement of a further equity issue to raise euro 123 million.
London remained depressed at mid-day after disappointing earnings last night from US bellwether Cisco Systems, with tech and telecoms bearing the brunt of the sell-off.
Weakness in technology and telecoms issues after the Cisco earnings shock after-hours in New York continued to weigh heavily.
Media blue chip BSkyB fell back as interim results disappointed. Baltimore slid 25p to £3.40, although broker ABN Amro repeated its 'buy' rating.