Market ReportC&C proved the highlight of holiday-dampened trade on the Irish stock market yesterday, as its venture capital shareholders sold the remainder of their stake.

BC Partners placed 11.2 million shares, or a 3.5 per cent stake, at a price of €6.70 each. Dealers said that the placing was oversubscribed and the shares went on to close eight cent, or 1.2 per cent, higher at €6.88.

Elsewhere, trading was subdued as US investors were absent due to the Fourth of July holiday. Overall, the Iseq closed broadly unchanged as it added just 0.1 per cent in value.

Dealers said that CRH remained in good shape ahead of the release of a trading update today.

The building materials group is also expected to provide an update on its first-half acquisition spending, including the purchase of a Dutch blind maker, AVZ. The seller, German steel and metal distributor Kloeckner & Co, said that it had sold the business, which had sales last year of €54 million, to CRH's Dutch unit.

Shares in Tullow got a boost as further testing of the Waraga-1 well in Uganda again exceeded expectations. In London, their main market, the shares closed 5.25 pence or 1.4 per cent higher at 390.75 pence sterling.

In Dublin, they finished at €5.63, a gain of eight cent or 1.4 per cent.

Financial stocks proved relatively dull with AIB edging up by five cent to €18.95, while Bank of Ireland finished 13 cent lower at €14.00.

But financial services group IFG gained four cent, or 2.3 per cent, to €1.75 after issuing a bullish trading statement at its annual meeting.

Among the smaller stocks, Getmobile shares remained volatile, losing a further two cent, or 18 per cent, to €0.09 in the wake of the recent profit warning.

In contrast, South Wharf added three cent, or 5.5 per cent, to €5.80 as 78 per cent of shareholders lent their support to the proposed sale of its 25-acre site in Dublin's Docklands.