No prizes for guessing what dominated the Irish market yesterday - the fallout from the collapse of Bank of Ireland's planned merger with Alliance & Leicester.
Forecasts in some quarters that Bank of Ireland were set for a surge proved to be wide of the mark and Bank of Ireland drifted sharply lower before rallying in the afternoon session.
For the overnight late deal of €17.50 (£13.78) - itself a €1 rise on the previous mark - Bank of Ireland traded to a day's low of €17.10 (£13.47) before rebounding to close down 17 cents on €17.33 (£13.65).
The scaling down of the Irish content of institutional portfolios, the imminent Telecom Eireann flotation and disillusionment among some fund managers at the management role in the A&L debacle were all factors which contributed to the anaemic performance by the share.
Speculation on a buyback, however, should support the shares at current levels.
AIB regained some ground after the previous two days' sell-off triggered by AIB's expected delisting from the Eurostoxx 50 index next month. The shares regained 30 cents to €12.80 and are likely to hold their ground at that level.
Among industrials, CRH was in renewed demand from Britain and dealt up 35 cents to €18.05 (£14.22).
News that Dairygold is cutting its milk price by 3p a gallon should benefit both Glanbia and Golden Vale, but there was little reaction where Glanbia did not trade from the overnight €1.30 (£1.02) while Golden Vale was just 2 cents firmer on €1.15 (£0.91).
