There were few highlights on a pretty dull Dublin market, where most of the leaders made little more than modest gains and fell back from their best levels. There were some decent volumes in the two big banks, Smurfit and Waterford Wedgwood but otherwise trading was light. Index heavyweight Elan traded above $50 on the New York Stock Exchange - its best level since mid-August - ahead of third-quarter results today.
The market has pencilled in earnings for the quarter of 49-50 US cents, and anything above that should further boost the shares. Analysts are not expecting any firm news on the development of two of Elan's key new products, Zirconitide and Frovelan.
Smurfit, shaking off a downgrade from "hold" to "buy" from Credit Suisse First Boston, initially traded up as high as €2.20 before giving up all those gains to close a cent lower on €2.07. Smurfit volumes totalled 3.1 million shares.
The heaviest trading proved to be in Waterford Wedgwood, where almost 8.3 million shares traded as the stock lost three cents to €0.69.
Ryanair jumped 54 cents to €10.90 and has now more than regained the ground it lost in the wake of the September 11th attacks. CRH drifted seven cents to €17.36, while DCC was one of the best performers, adding 30 cents to €10.50.
AIM minnow Alltracel was the best performer of the overseas-listed Irish companies and jumped 7p to 35 1/2p sterling - more than three times above its recent 10p low. Trinity Biotech, ahead of third-quarter results today, was also very strong - dealing up 21 cents to $1.69 by midday on Nasdaq.
