It was a dull day on the Irish market with the subdued trading tied into the August holiday period. After last week's heavy losses, the ISEQ closed nearly 1 per cent up at 5,880.24 yesterday.

There was some decent volumes in the two big banks, with AIB and Bank of Ireland both seeing a fair amount of trading but not huge price movements. Bank of Ireland picked up four cents to €10.13 with just more than 1.8 million shares traded, while AIB was down fractionally, losing one cent to €12.39 with more than 2.8 million shares changing hands.

Elsewhere among the financials, Anglo Irish Bank picked up four cents to close the day at €3.80 on volumes of more than 700,000 shares. First Active was four cents stronger at €3.25, while Irish Life & Permanent advanced five cents to €13.13.

Despite its statement that its recommended offer for Golden Vale had gone unconditional having received more than 80 per cent of acceptances from Golden Vale shareholders, Kerry Group still dropped back five cents on thin volumes.

CRH finished the day six cents stronger at €19.31,while Ryanair dropped back 12 cents to €11.24.

There was a bit more activity among some of the smaller names, particularly those hit by price moves last week, but the volumes were not huge. Kingspan, which was down 10 per cent on Friday, bounced back yesterday, advancing 25 cents to €3.15. Green Property was 1 per cent stronger yesterday, picking up nine cents to close the day at €7.04

Heavyweight Elan, which accounts for around a quarter of the index, was €2.10 stronger at €62.50 on light volumes.