Shares fell again in Dublin with the ISEQ closing down 1.81 per cent at 5016.35. Dealers described the market as "soggy" and sellers outnumbering buyers of Irish shares.
Eircom was down from €2.81 to €2.65 with the fall attributed to general weakness in the sector after Nokia, the Finish telecom giant and darling of the European tech sector issued a second quarter profits warning.
Independent News and Media also fell, closing at €3.40 down from €3.45 reflecting the lower valuation achieved by i-Touch which set its IPO share price at 70p sterling. The mobile phone information group which is 71 per cent owned by Independent is valued at £200 million compared to the £300 million that had been mooted.
Trading in Tullow Oil shares was suspended after the company announced that it was in talks with another un-named party about a possible reverse takeover.
Market sources speculated that the other party was most likely a similar sized or slightly larger exploration company. A major oil company would have opted for a straight takeover they said. The prize presumably is Tullow`s interests in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The banks remain friendless with AIB down 18 cents from its opening price at €9.00 and Bank of Ireland off 25 cents on its opening price at €6.60. Anglo Irish Bank lost 13 cents to end the day at €2.25.
Irish Continental Group fell ahead of its results published today. The transport group closed at €8.75, a fall of 25 cents on its closing price on Wednesday.
CRH and Ryanair were also down. The building materials group lost 32 cents on the day to finish at €18.58. Ryanair was down 15 cents at €9.00 in the wake of the Air France Concorde crash.
