The Irish stock market marked time before ending broadly unchanged yesterday as overseas markets failed to provide it with any direction. European shares were mostly firmer as Wall Street inched ahead, but investors on both sides of the Atlantic remained cautious in a market that looked to be in a consolidation phase after recent volatility.
The calmer mood was reflected in a lack of activity in Dublin where dealers reported light share volumes. CRH was among the more active stocks, gaining 23p to 925p as traders reported good demand for the shares. The company also announced it had made another bolt-on acquisition, taking a 47 per cent stake in a Polish cement group, Holding Cement Polski.
Attention also focused on Powerscreen following the announcement that Quinn Direct Insurance, which is owned by the Sean Quinn Group, had taken a 6 per cent stake in the Dungannon-based engineering group.
Dealers said the purchase, made just days ahead of Powerscreen's annual meeting today, had given a boost to the share price which finished 17p higher at 98p sterling in London. The move, which took the market by surprise, also led to speculation as to Quinn's future plans.
Quinn Direct could merely be capitalising on an opportunity to buy shares that are widely considered to be undervalued, dealers said, but there was also speculation in the market that the move could signal a takeover bid.
"It's one to watch. It will be interesting to see if [former Powerscreen chief executive Mr Shay] McKeown tries to make his way back into the company," said one analyst, adding that the market would be watching closely to see if there was further stake building by other acquaintances of Mr McKeown.
Irish Life and Irish Permanent continued to suffer from some profit-taking, dealers said. The former slipped 10p to 580p, while Irish Permanent was down 15p at 960p. The two leading banks also had lacklustre performances, with AIB finishing 5p higher at 935p and Bank of Ireland closing 8p lower at £11.92. Consequently, the overall financial index closed 0.14 per cent lower although First Active bucked the trend in the sector to gain 15p to 355p.
Many of the leading industrial stocks posted modest losses as well. Greencore edged down 10p to 240p and Ryanair was off 5p at 385p, although Smurfit gained 3p to 107p. Tullow Oil, which releases its interim results today, was up 10 1/2p at 93p.
Meanwhile, Heiton Holdings announced that Mr Leo Martin, managing director of its merchanting and steel divisions and a director of the group, had sold 11,925 ordinary shares at a price of 160p per share on October 23rd, making him £19,080 richer on paper.
Five days later, Mr Martin exercised options to acquire 15,000 ordinary shares at a price of 74p per share at a total cost of £11,100, leaving him with a paper profit of £7,980 from the share transactions.
Heiton stock closed at 157p last night, down 3p on the day.
