Eircom soars on ISEQ

Eircom shares soared nearly 8% to €2.19 by 11am on this morings ISEQ after a report in the Irish Independent which said Swisscom, Switzerland's largest telephone company, had contacted the company about the possibility of making a €3 billion bid.

Eircom aside, it was a bad morning on today's ISEQ as fears over the health of the United States also sent a shiver through the London market today.

The ISEQ index of shares plunged by 59.47 to 6830.14, a fall of nearly 1%.

Dragon Oil recorded one of the biggest losses falling over 10% to €2.47. Tullow Oil fell 16c to €3.44.

Construction companies also had a bad day. CRH fell 32c to €22.63, Kingspan fell by 20c to €10.60 and Grafton fell by 7c to €8.38. Abbey and McInerney recorded no change.

The financials all recorded losses on today's ISEQ. AIB fell 13c to €17.87, Bank of Ireland 8c to €3.17, Anglo Irish Bank fell 1c to 11.64 and Irish Life and Permanent fell 2c to €15.10.