It was another day of drift on the Dublin market, with little happening internationally to suggest that markets are anywhere near moving out of the current bear phase.

The one highlight was the completion of the CRH rights issue, where there was a 86.7 per cent take-up of the 103.6 million shares on offer to shareholders at €10.50 a share. The rump of 13.75 million shares was placed in the market by Davy and Warburg at €16.50. CRH shares ended the day on €16.65, just above that placing price, and a fall of 93 cents on the overnight level.

Otherwise there was little to excite. The leading financials were lower, with AIB down 9 cents on €11.00 and Bank of Ireland down 10 cents on €9.20. Anglo Irish lost 19 cents to €3.20 but Irish Life was the exception to the negative tone, gaining 15 cents to €12.00 in turnover of almost 2.9 million shares.

Irish Continental recovered 23 cents to €5.80, despite earnings forecasts being cut by 10 per cent in the current year and 5 per cent for 2002 by Davy. The broker is forecasting earnings growth of 3 per cent for ICG this year and more than 20 per cent next year, with a full-year contribution from the Ulysses superferry.

Dublin-listed technology shares were weaker, with Horizon falling 30 cents to €3.98, while ITG lost 60 cents to €6.30 - albeit with just 85 shares trading! On international markets, most of the Irish stocks remained weak, with Baltimore, Parthus and Iona down, although Datalex and SmartForce were higher on the day. Clinical trials group Icon was trading up almost 9 per cent on Nasdaq on $231/4 after well-received third-quarter results.