Fears that the Cisco profits warning and restructurings at Ericsson and Philips would send stock markets spiralling proved unfounded and the Irish market managed to close up marginally on the day. Apart from Eircom and to a lesser extent Smurfit and Anglo Irish, trading volumes were low.
Technology shares were mixed on overseas markers, but Baltimore was once again the focus of very heavy selling and fell as low as 61p before eventually closing down 8p on 66p sterling. Turnover was heavy with more than 17 million shares changing hands. Sentiment to the share remains negative with more than 21.6 million shares held by 69 former Content Technology shareholders being freed from lock-up next week.
In Dublin, Eircom went as low as €2.45 before closing down three cents on €2.50, mirroring the movement in the Vodafone share price in London. More than 2.5 million shares changed hands. Leading financial and industrial were mixed with AIB down 25 cents on €11.73, CRH 11 cents lower on €18.26 while Bank of Ireland edged six cents higher to €10.15.
Poor results from Weyerheauser did not help Smurfit which was a cent lower on €1.88 and appears mired in a narrow trading range around €1.90. Anglo Irish was 15 cents higher on €3.75, IFG gained 10 cents to a new €2.95 high after its recent good results while Waterford Wedgwood gained four cents to €1.12.