It was the usual story when a company meets profits and earnings forecasts but does not include any pleasant surprises. Bank of Ireland results were pretty much in line with analyst forecasts, but the absence of a surprise lead to an early sell-off which saw the shares fall from the overnight €19.28 (£15.18) to a low €18.15 (£14.29) before some solid buying after a presentation to British fund managers saw the shares close on €18.40 (£14.49).

The buying by the British institutions will further shift the balance of shareholding in Bank of Ireland away from domestic institutions. In recent weeks, a number of domestic institutions, including Irish Life and Bank of Ireland Asset Management, have substantially cut their holding in the bank as part of the portfolio restructuring that has followed the introduction of the euro.

AIB drifted five cents lower to €14.30 (£11.26), while Anglo Irish was four cents weaker on €2.63 (£2.07) with the market paying no great notice to Anglo's latest loan portfolio acquisition in Britain.

There was some demand for the cyclical industrial stocks, with CRH up 14 cents to €18.40 (£14.49). However, Smurfit was down one cent [NO ]cents higher on €2.53 (£1.99). Waterford Wedgwood bounced back after some recent weakness and was four cents higher on €0.95 (£0.75). Irish Life & Permanent added five cents to €12.65 (£9.96).

Strong demand for British electricity stocks saw Viridian gain 35 cents to €10.50 (£8.27). Rapid Technology went into the market to raise money and placed almost 1.1 million shares at €1.27 (£1.00) compared to the price in the market of €1.43 (£1.13).

The only features on Nasdaq were support for Esat, which was trading $11/4 higher on $43 as the Irish market closed, while takeover speculation fuelled interest in Saville, which was trading $3/4 higher on $157/8. There was vague talk on Wall Street of a bid for Saville from Logica, the British group which took over Aldiscon last year.