Market Report:Stock markets had a ragged end to the week but, for once, the Irish exchange was not as badly hit as the rest of Europe, dropping 119 points to finish the day down less than 1.5 per cent, as poor jobless figures in the US hit other markets.

The most significant climber of the day was drinks group C&C, which attracted plenty of buyers following media comments by the head of SABMiller's European operations in which he said the company plans to expand in the higher end of the western European drinks market.

C&C, which is now purely an alcoholic drinks group following the offloading of its snack and soft drink divisions, is seen as a target for the larger brewers, and its shares duly climbed 25 cent to €5.65, a rise of 4.6 per cent.

Barclays, which had held more than 5 per cent of the stock, sold down its stake to 1.27 per cent.

The Irish banks held up well relative to their European counterparts. Anglo lost just 12 cent to close at €13.92, while Irish Life & Permanent was also reasonably resilient, dropping 1.75 per cent on thin volume.

Bank of Ireland was the busiest financial stock of the day with 3.75 million shares changing hands, and it shed 31 cent to close at €12.92, while AIB finished down 47 cent at €17.73.

Building materials group CRH rallied at the close, but is still under pressure due to the weak US market, where 50 per cent of its business is exposed. With volume of 3.5 million, it fell 33 cent to €30.20, a drop of more than 1 per cent.

Elsewhere, Kerry was up ½ a per cent at €19.10.

Fyffes and FBD have been buying their own stock and both companies saw their share prices drift up by more than 1 per cent yesterday.