A sturdy recovery by Eircom was the main feature of the Dublin market, where industrial shares were generally firmer while the two big banks continued to slide.
The market is finding it difficult to decide on an appropriate level for Eircom, with Wednesday's sharp fall to below July's flotation price being followed yesterday by a 23-cent jump to €4.10 (£3.23).
The share was over $1 firmer on the NYSE, albeit in small volumes, as the Irish market closed, but with the shares once again on offer at €4.10 in Dublin, yesterday's gains may provoke some more profit-taking from those who got in at the recent low of €3.65.
The 140,000 shares bought by AIB chairman Mr Lochlann Quinn at €11.30 and €11.25 seems to have stopped the rot at AIB, but the shares, after rallying as high as €11.40, closed down three cents on the day on €11.27 (£8.88). Bank of Ireland remained weak and lost another 6.5 cents to €7.65 (6.02).
Irish Life & Permanent, however, continued to buck the trend and added another 10 cents to €10.55 (£8.31) - ABN-Amro analyst Mr Eamonn Hughes has put a fair value of €12 on the IL&P shares with a "buy" recommendation attached.
IAWS moved to another post-results high with a 10-cent gain to €4.60 (£3.62), Independent was also 10 cents ahead on €4.95 (£3.90) after Goodbody analyst Ms Joan Garahy put a €5.70 12-month target on the shares, while IFG was steady on €0.85 (67p) after buying in another 114,330 shares to bring then total buy-back to 3.65 million shares or just under 9 per cent of the total equity.
Irish Continental was the biggest faller on the day, down 70 cents to €9.50 (£7.48). Smurfit was unchanged on €2.78 (£2.19) after announcing Mr Gary McGann's elevation to the chief operating officer job.
On Nasdaq, Irish shares were generally firmer but Trintech continued to suffer from small-scale profit taking and was down over 50 cents on just over $13 as the Irish market closed.
