Techs and telecoms hit by Vodafone weakness

The continued weakness in the Vodafone shares and the continuing flow of bad news from the technology sector sent technology …

The continued weakness in the Vodafone shares and the continuing flow of bad news from the technology sector sent technology and telecom shares sharply lower on Irish and international markets.

Eircom hit a new closing low of #2.33, a fall of five cents on the day, as Vodafone fell to its lowest level since December 1998. The main question now is if Eircom can continue to press ahead with the sale of Eircell to Vodafone given that the value of the all-share deal has fallen by a quarter since it was first confirmed in mid-December.

Technology shares remained in the doldrums. Trintech fell another 20 per cent on the Neuer Markt as investors continued to dump the stock. It is difficult not to feel that the dumping of Trintech is overdone.

If the company does move into profit in the fourth quarter, as it has indicated, then the shares are absurdly cheap. The problem, however, is that the market is not convinced that Trintech's forecast of Q4 profits will be achieved given the full-year results that came in well short of forecasts.

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Other technology shares were also badly hit with Baltimore down 14p on 239p sterling (374 cents) and Parthus 13 1/2p lower on 105 1/2p sterling despite a management reshuffle that is seen as a precursor of acquisition activity.

On the home market, there were few highlights apart from Heiton's share placing. Share issues have become something of a novelty in these low-interest times, but Heiton was able to offload 1.85 million new shares at #3.80, a discount of just 10 cents to the market price.

The other main feature was weakness across the food sector as a result of the foot-and-mouth crisis.