DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 3,103.24 (+3.53) Settlement date: June 22ndDAILY WORLD Cup fixtures are doing little to promote trading activity on the Irish stock market, with investors keeping all eyes on South Africa rather than their Bloomberg screens.

With relatively low volumes of shares exchanging hands, the Iseq index “ebbed and flowed” throughout the day, according to share dealers. The stronger morning was undone by a weaker afternoon, resulting in a flat finish to the day’s trading, in line with the performance of the major European indices.

There were some buyers in AIB after news circulated that Spain’s largest bank, Santander, has renewed its interest in AIB’s 22.5 per cent stake in US-based lender MT Bank, which AIB is looking to offload.

It was rumoured that the negotiations indicated a price that would be beneficial to AIB, prompting some interest in the stock. It ended the day more or less flat at €1.00.

Elsewhere, Bank of Ireland traded in a narrow 82-83 cent range, with decent two-way trade in the stock. It closed up slightly at 82 cent.

Ryanair traded in a much wider range, starting the day at €3.80, before trading as high as €3.88, only to close back down at €3.80, as more sellers came into play in the afternoon.

One spot of local company news came courtesy of Blackrock, the property subsidiary of fruit group Fyffes. The sale of Blackrock’s office development in Milton Keynes for €3.85 million, at higher than the property’s valuation as of the end of last year, boosted the stock, which climbed 1 cent to 4 cent.

Among the food groups, Glanbia had a weaker day’s trading than it has done of late, falling 2.7 per cent to €3.16.

However, Kerry climbed 13 cent to €23.38, while CC rose almost 2 per cent to €3.27.