Dublin report: It was a volatile day in the Irish market yesterday with last week's sell-off continuing in the early part of the day before investors took advantage of the declines and buying activity helped push the index back up.

Overall the Iseq index of Irish shares ended the day little changed at 9,384.61. The situation was similar elsewhere in Europe.

The main story in Ireland, however, was C&C. The drinks group lost as much as 5.8 per cent, before recovering some ground to close down 3.8 per cent, or 42 cent, at €10.73. Volume was decent with 3.4 million shares changing hands. Dealers attributed the drop - the stock is down 15 per cent so far this month - to the bad weather and its impact on sales of the group's Magners and Bulmers cider, that is know as a summer beverage.

Insurance group FBD also had a bad day after investors took fright at comments in the group's trading update that said ongoing competition in the market may make it difficult for the company to hit its gross premium written target for the full year.

The shares fell as much as 7 per cent, before recovering some ground to close down 3.1 per cent, or €1.02, at €31.96. Dealers and analysts said the decline was somewhat overdone and probably more of a response to jitters in the market rather than fundamental problems at the company.

It is also believed that the company took the opportunity to buy back as many as 250,000 of its own shares.

Elsewhere, the financials were all hit hard at the start of the day before recovering some ground, though Bank of Ireland and AIB both closed down at €15.17 and €20.80 respectively.

Anglo meanwhile recovered from a daily low of €14.75, to end the day up just 1 cent on Friday's close at €15.26. As many as 3.8 million shares changed hands.