Ireland's beleaguered technology companies were the stars of an otherwise dull day, with little real change in the major financial and industrial shares.
The star of the day was Parthus, which benefited from a positive third-quarter trading statement and the decision by the French government to slash the price of its third generation mobile phone licences.
Parthus traded above 50p sterling in huge turnover in London at one stage before easing in later trading to close up 7 3/4p on 42 1/2p sterling while, on Nasdaq, the share was trading $1.18 higher by midday on $5.99.
The continued recovery by Parthus is welcome but it has to be put in the context of a £2.18 sterling high earlier this year.
Iona also benefited from positive trading comments with its third-quarter results and was trading up $1.40 in midday Nasdaq trading on $12.
Other technology stocks were all firmer with SmartForce, Trintech and even Baltimore well up on the day.
There was little change in the leading industrial and financial shares but, in general, the financial stocks were firmer.
AIB dealt up 25 cents to E;11.40 although Bank of Ireland -- recently given an accumulate tag by Merrill Lynch - drifted nine cents lower to E;9.75.
Anglo Irish continued its recent strong run and gained 20 cents to E;3.30 while Irish Life & Permanent jumped 50 cents to E;11.90.
There was heavy trading in some of the second-line industrials with Independent News & Media up five cents to E;1.85 in turnover of 2.3 million shares, while 2.3 million Fyffes shares also traded as it drifted a cent lower to E;1.22.
