Dublin Report: The Irish stock market finished the day broadly unchanged as a lack of news at home and little direction from overseas left share prices range-bound.
Dealers said that, in the absence of domestic news, investors were looking forward to figures from Tullow Oil today and Iona Technologies on Thursday.
Shares in the oil company added five cent, or 1.8 per cent, to €2.79, ahead of what are expected to be a good set of figures.
In contrast, Iona lost 14 cent, or 4.5 per cent, to €2.96, ahead of its first-quarter numbers following recent weak results from its peers.
Dealers also reported a poor day for Paddy Power, which lost 20 cent, or 1.4 per cent, to €13.90 as investors took the view that an Irish winner in the UK Grand National and Tiger Woods's win at the US Masters in Augusta were bad news for the bookmaker. However, most regarded the dip in the share's fortunes as a buying opportunity.
The financial sector turned in a mixed performance as it remained in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. AIB added 12 cent to €16.42 but Anglo Irish Bank shed 15 cent to €19.70 while Bank of Ireland lost 20 cent to €12.48 amid rumours that Unicredito Italiano was mulling a takeover of its asset management division.
More than 1.6 million Eircom shares traded, as the stock lost two cent or 1 per cent to €1.92. Dealers said the ESOP was believed to have been active again.
Despite news that the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking at share price transactions surrounding the announcement of the Tysabri suspension, Elan's shares rose four cent to €2.94 in Dublin.
Other movers yesterday included Trinity Biotech, which lost 20 cent, or 10 per cent, to €1.73 in Dublin, while Readymix also gave up some ground, shedding five cent, or 2 per cent, of its value to €2.20 as two executive directors opted to sell shares in the company.
