ANY market that can swing over 200 points in the space of seven hours trading is inherently unstable. For that reason many investors are putting little store in the rebound in share prices on Wall Street in the latter half of the week.
The New York market regained much of the losses made earlier in the week as did the Irish market which followed close behind as usual but the big question exercising the minds of fund managers is whether the bull market has run its course and whether it is time to reallocate funds within investment portfolios.
At this stage, it should be said that the Irish market is not a particularly dear one, although some high p/e stocks do seem somewhat expensive at current levels. But movements in Dublin are going to be inextricably linked to events in New York.
At least the Congress testimony from the Fed chairman, Mr Alan Greenspan, provided some immediate reassurance for the markets but it is too early to suggest the current turmoil is over.
CRH, one of the high flyers of the first half of the year, took the brunt of the negative sentiment and fell as low as 575p 8 per cent off its all time high of a few weeks ago. CRH's fall from grace was partly due to a "sell" recommendation from Natwest Securities that sent some British institutions rushing to do just that.
Natwest's negative assessment was not shared by Dublin based analysts, most of whom still look favourably on CRH, despite some misgivings over its business in Britain.
Corporate news during the week was pretty thin, with only second quarter results from AIB's First Maryland and Smurfit associate JS Corp. Neither of these results produced much in the way of surprises, although the JS Corp results were at the upper end of market forecasts.
Smurfit, however, is still finding it very difficult to break out of a narrow trading range between 160p and 170p and it will take some substantial event for the a share to move ahead out of that narrow range.
The biggest faller of the week was Unidare when an American investor who is thought to have bought in at over 250p finally lost patience and dumped 500,000 shares in the market at 180p and 190p.
Unidare has few fans in the market apart, it would seems, from Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU, which bought a 5.9 per cent stake last March at 220p and 225p. IIU also has small share holdings in two other poorly performing engineering company, Jones and Barlo, and in Golden Vale.
Meanwhile, the exploration sector long viewed as a pariah by many institutional investors seems to be going through a good period, with four companies going to the market looking for almost £80 million to fund developments.
Ivernia and Tullow have for a long time been seen as a better class of exploration company, with solid prospects in lead zinc mining and oil/gas respectively. For that reason, Ivernia's £41 million and Tullow's £30 million cash calls are likely to be well supported.
However, Kenmare and Dana have also gone to the market for funds for developments
