The ISEQ remained almost flat this morning despite a broad recovery in the European telecom and technology sectors. At mid-session the Irish benchmark stood 6 points higher at 5,920.
Today's main corporate feature was Jefferson Smurfit's impressive results. The packaging group reported pre tax profits of euro 485 million. Smurfit shares moved 4 cents higher at euro 2.01 on the back of the news.
AIB, which reports tomorrow, gained 13 cents to euro 12.23 while Bank of Ireland nudged 3 cents higher to euro 10.0.
In other stocks, Greencore gained 10 cents to euro 3.0, Ryanair is 15 cents higher at 12.25 and CRH gained 55 cents to euro 20.00. Eircom is unchanged at 2.47 despite a rebound in the telecom sector.
Leading London shares remained firm but well of their highs towards midday as the early rally in market heavyweight Vodafone began to run out of steam.
The rally in tech and telecom issues continued towards midday, still benefiting from bargain hunting at the lower levels and with some players feeling that the recent shake-out is looking well overdone.
Autonomy continued to head the FTSE 100 index leaders board, up an impressive 118p, or nearly 8 per cent at £16.33.
Competition concerns returned to haunt the mortgage sector as Britain's biggest lender Halifax signalled with its in-line full year figures that it plans to cut its mortgage rate.