Described by one dealer as "showing shades of August doldrums", trading on the ISEQ yesterday was at its quietest for the month as the index moved up 0.015 per cent. Volumes among the financials were low and appeared to be confined to small batches of retail buying. In the event, AIB held on to Friday's €11.95 (£9.41) price while Bank of Ireland slipped back five cents to €8.75 (£6.89). Irish Life & Permanent was down three cents to €9.42 (£7.42) and Anglo Irish Bank was unchanged at €2.30 (£1.81).
As in other European markets, the feeling was that investors were holding back ahead of US inflation data due today which will indicate the size of the Federal Reserve's expected interest rate increase next week.
Telecom Eireann was back half a cent to €4.345 while in New York, it remained unchanged at $18.25 (€17.28) in mid-day trade.
Among the industrial stocks, Smurfit attracted some buying interest and it held last Friday's two-cent gain, remaining at €2.85 (£2.24). CRH, meanwhile, notched up one cent, closing at €19.33 (£15.22). Greencore was up six cents to €2.92 (£2.30) and Independent rose 15 cents to €4.40 (£3.47). One dealer said they may have been sold last month as a result of the inclusion of Telecom Eireann on the key MSCI index.
Buying interest continued among other second-liners, following the management buy-out moves in Clondalkin. Irish Continental was unchanged at €11.20 (£8.82) but Kingspan was up two cents to €2.50 (£1.97) and Barlo was up three cents to 80 cents (63p). Clondalkin itself was up a further 15 cents or 1.8 per cent to €8.45 (£6.65) as further news on the proposed MBO, at €9.00 (£7.09) per share, is awaited.
