Market report: Eircom suffers as Vodafone keeps falling

The ISEQ dropped over one per cent today with the majority of frontline stocks closing lower. At close the Dublin market stood at 5,503.02, down 76 points.

It was another bleak day for long-suffering eircom shareholders as pressure on Vodafone shares in London led to negative market sentiment. At close eircom shares had slipped down just under five per cent to euro 2.40. Vodafone closed at £2.17 sterling on the FTSE today, three cents below the £2.20 exit level for eircom.

Other tech stocks were mixed with Iona gaining 200 cents to euro 53.00, Horizon climbing to euro 7.10, a gain of 30 cents while Independent shed 10 cents to euro 3.00. The most dramatic mover were Riverdeep shares which closed down over 10 per cent on euro 3.10

It was a bleak day for financials as AIB fell 25 cents to euro 12.85, Bank of Ireland dropped 26 cents to euro 9.77 followed into negative territory by Irish Life and Permanent shares which shed 30 cents to euro 12.25.

Drug stocks were slightly off with Elan edging down to euro 47.20, a fall of 20 cents while United Drug eased down 15 cents to euro 11.10. Trinity Biotech was unchanged at euro 2.45.

Construction stocks were also mixed following another profit warning from the building materials sector in the US and CRH was off 31 cents on euro 19.75. However, both Green and Heiton rose closing on euro 7.10 and euro 3.28 respectively.

Ryanair was down seven cents on euro 11.05 and Jurys closed at euro 9.15, down 15 cents.