It was another quiet day on the Dublin market yesterday with leading shares all drifting lower in line with a weaker tone across Europe. Trading volumes in Dublin remained fairly thin throughout the day with overseas investors largely staying away from the market on the back of weakness in London and Wall Street. The absence of any company results in Dublin has also added to the boredom. So far, the results season has been very favourably received by the market, with most companies showing strong half-year growth prompting widescale upgrades for many stocks.
Financial stocks once again were easier, with AIB dropping 4p on the day to close at 572p. Bank of Ireland was also lower, down a penny at 775p, Irish Life slipped 3p to 335p while Irish Permanent lost 4p to 613p. Norwich Union however took the biggest hit, dropping 10p to 365p.
Among the leading industrial stocks, CRH eased 5p to close at 737p, unable to hold on to opening levels of 742p during thin trading. Smurfit was also down, sliding from 220p to 215p.
Despite the weaker tone, most of the food stocks managed to hold on to their previous levels, with some gaining ground. Golden Vale stayed unchanged at 79p despite drifting to 78p earlier in the day. Fyffes also remained steady at 93p while Greencore put on a penny to 325p. Kerry also had a good day, gaining 13p to close at 738p.
The gilt market was also easier yesterday for the second successive day as trade continued to be thinly based. The benchmark bond due in 2001 was down 8p to £102.80 yielding 5.63 per cent, while the 10-year benchmark bond due in 2006 fell 19p to £111.27 to yield 6.21 per cent.
Dealers said that, while trade volumes had diminished since last week, international players were continuing to keep an eye on the Irish market. There was mounting speculation however that the National Treasury Management Agency would shortly auction a new stock to replace the current 10-year benchmark, the 8 per cent treasury bond due in 2008. Dealers believe the announcement could possibly be made tomorrow.
