Heavy trading in e-learning group Riverdeep was the main feature of a steady day on the Irish market where financial shares made solid gains. Today sees the beginning of the end-June reporting season and the injection of fresh corporate news should give the market some impetus.

More than 12 million Riverdeep shares dealt in Dublin as the shares were bid up 33 cents to €4.48 after it was disclosed that shareholders who control almost 50 per cent of the equity have locked themselves in for the next 12 months.

IBM yesterday sold 12 million Riverdeep shares to institutions at €3.87, and this accounts for the vast bulk of the Dublin turnover.

The next biggest trading was in Anglo Irish Bank where almost 4.4 million shares traded as the share gained 5 cents to €4.10. AIB gained 17 cents to E'12.57, Irish Life was 9 cents higher on €13.79 while Bank of Ireland edged 5 cents higher to €10.80.

Among industrials, Smurfit gained 6 cents to €2.45 in chunky trading ahead of interim results today, although CRH dropped 40 cents to €19.50 ahead of results next week.

Fyffes was 5 cents higher on €1.32 in turnover of almost a million shares while IAWS - on the brink of a €12 million takeover of Roma Foods - was 5 cents higher on €8.10. Independent lost 5 cents to €2.17 on continuing uncertainty over its Irish earnings.

On overseas markets, Baltimore remained bombed-out with no sign of a realistic bid to boost the price. The share fell 3p to 20.5p sterling, Parthus was almost 3p lower on 41.5p sterling while Alltracel was 1p lower on 29.5p sterling.

In New York, Riverdeep was up almost 9 per cent, although Smartforce fell sharply and was down over 7 per cent at midday on $30.56.