Eircom has fallen to its lowest level since the July flotation and yesterday's closing price of €4.05 (£3.19) has brought the shares back to within 15 cents of the flotation price. Needless to say, the army of private investors who piled into Eircom shares and who have held their shares are feeling nervous but there is a feeling in the market that the shares are unlikely to fall any lower. It's difficult to see what's generating the negative market reaction to Eircom at present and Goodbody and ABN-Amro, in their first comments on the stock since the post-IPO research blackout was lifted, have repeated their view that the stock has good long-term prospects. ABN-Amro has warned, however, that in the short term the shares may do no more than mark time.

Elsewhere, bank shares drifted lower in thin trading with Bank of Ireland down 18 cents on €8.82 (£6.95) while AIB eased one cent lower to €11.96 (£9.42). Trading in CRH was quieter than of late and the share edged ahead one cent to €20.03 (£15.77). Among the second-liners, Fyffes fell 10 cents to €1.65 (£1.30) with little sign that recent buy-backs by the company are putting a floor under the share price. IAWS continued to remain firmly bid and dealt up 20 cents to €4.45 (£3.50) while Independent was six cents higher on €4.71 (£3.71). Smurfit's European restructuring failed to excite the market and the shares were unchanged on €2.86 (£2.25). Smurfit Stone, however, was in demand on Nasdaq and the shares were trading almost $1 1/2 higher at just below $24 at the Dublin close. Elan - linked with a €1 billion-plus bid for Medeva - was just over $1 (€0.95) lower on the NYSE just below $34 at the Irish close while Esat drifted lower as the market digested the PostGem/IOL acquisition.