There was a real Friday air on the Dublin market yesterday, with trade generally lacklustre and news thin on the ground.

Settlement Day: February 25th

Barlo failed to disappoint against this backdrop, as it emerged definitively that Mr Dermot Desmond was behind most of Thursday's trade. Volume was again heavy in the MBO target yesterday, with almost 1.3 million shares traded.

The stock touched 44 cents at one point before closing up one cent at 42 cents, the level at which most business was done and two cents up on the MBO offer.

Elan was sold off in the wake of two consecutive days of stellar rises. Shares finished at €10.00, down 65 cents as analysts remain upbeat on the company's growth path going forward.

Elsewhere, a programme trade drove down some of the top names in late trade.

Ryanair dropped 23 cents to €4.67, while CRH fell eight cents to €16.81. Analysts are expecting the impact of acquisitions to offset sluggish market trends and unhelpful currency movements when CRH reports full-year numbers on March 2nd.

AIB, which is due to report on Tuesday, shed 33 cents to close at €13.12 last night. Analysts are expecting good 2003 growth in every territory except Poland.

Bank of Ireland closed at €11.00, down 15 cents. Anglo Irish meanwhile continued to lose ground, declining by three cents to €12.60.

Kerry Group rose by 25 cents to €14.80 as investors looked to Tuesday's full-year numbers.

Fellow food stock, Greencore, looked busier than usual, with some two million shares changing hands. Dealers suggested that much of the volume could have come in a connected party deal however. Shares finished at €3.32, down three cents. Qualceram was an outperformer, although the 15-cent climb to €1.90 came on minimal volume.

The most active stock was Independent News and Media, which saw close to three million of its shares change hands. It closed unchanged at €2.13.