There was lots of volatility on the Dublin market yesterday, but most stocks rallied and the Iseq index closed up slightly on the day.

Traders reported decent volumes of trading which suggested some semblance of normality returning to the markets after the recent rollercoaster ride.

At one period during the day, the financials were off 2.5 per cent and all stocks were traded heavily. AIB continued to outperform its peers and finished at €14.97, up 1.84 per cent. Irish Life & Permanent was the weakest performing, finishing the session off 2.2 per cent at €10.50. In contrast, the banks' UK and European peers were up between 3 and 4 per cent, with one trader saying the weakness of the Irish banks was "hard to fathom", given the credit position has improved. He said given Irish Life & Permanent had provided the most information about its credit exposure, it was surprising it was the weakest banking stock.

CRH regained some ground after a poor performance of late, but the volumes were low, suggesting no conviction, another trader said. Its shares closed 53 cents stronger at €22.95.

Denis O'Brien and Sir Anthony O'Reilly were in the market for Independent News & Media shares, which drove up volumes. Traders said the market expected a long drawn-out battle for the media group and, as a result, sizeable purchases were having little impact on the price. Shares finished ahead by 3.5 cents at €2.365

Paddy Power continued to move downward, losing €0.15 to finish at €18.35, which seemed to reflect weak trading statements from its peer group in the UK.

Encouraging Nielsen data on the UK drinks market provided a glimmer of good news for C&C which closed up 2.5 per cent at €4.09.