With Wall Street providing little inspiration and European markets only marginally firmer, the Dublin market had another dispiriting day, with most stocks marked down in thin trading.
Half-year results from Fyffes were no worse than expected, but the shares fell 8 cents to €1.37, not helped by a downgrade to "sell" from ABN-Amro. Even the commitment to squeeze €20 million in cost savings failed to provide any support for Fyffes shares.
Green was another special situation stock to fall heavily and dealt down 43 cents to €5.97, reversing a good portion of Friday's gains.
The leaders were weaker across the board, with AIB down 12 cents on €10.38, Bank of Ireland 16 cents lower on €7.19 and CRH - Volume was small in all cases except Bank of Ireland, for which turnover was just under 2 two million shares. The biggest volume, however, was in Smurfit, in which over share lost price decreased 6 cents to €2.01.
Eircom managed to stand still on €3.03.
Elsewhere, Greencore continued to weaken, falling another 7 cents to €2.63 with no sign of support. First Active dealt down 7 cents to a new low of €1.80, although Golden Vale managed to buck the trend and was 5 cents firmer on €1.08.
Baltimore marked its first day's trading since being removed from the FTSE-100 with a 39p fall to 512p sterling. Parthus, however, benefited from a "buy" recommendation, dealing up 8 1/2p to 210p sterling in London and trading more than $2 higher at above $32 by midday on Nasdaq.
