The Irish market took a turn for the worse late yesterday after earlier touching a record high. It closed little changed down 5.4 points, a mere 0.07 per cent.

Throughout the day, the Iseq continued the upwards stampede it started earlier in the week, led by the financials, though these also gave up ground towards the end of the day. Ryanair bucked the overall trend in Dublin and ended the day in the black after revealing plans to introduce four more routes from Dublin.

At the company's annual general meeting yesterday, chief executive Michael O'Leary said the group was on track to meet analysts' expectations, despite the disruptions caused by last month's attempted terror attacks in London. He said bookings had fallen over that weekend but had returned to normal within a week. The shares rose 20 cent, or 2.5 per cent, to end at €8.30.

Elsewhere, Irish Life & Permanent put in the strongest performance of the financials, banking its earlier gains to close 39 cent, or 2 per cent, stronger at €19.57. Anglo Irish just made it into the list of winners, adding 1 cent, to end the day at €13.

Bank of Ireland closed at €15.30, its session low after earlier rising as high as €15.50. The closing price left it 10 cent, or 0.6 per cent below its closing price on Wednesday. AIB slipped four cent, or 0.2 per cent, to close at €20.95, after earlier rising to €21.18. Elsewhere, Dragon Oil declined seven cent, or 2.8 per cent, to close at €2.41 after releasing first-half results showing that, while profit had increased in the first half, this was only as a result of the higher oil price rather than progress at the company.

The Iseq Exchange Traded Fund, a basket that tracks 20 leading Irish quoted companies, added 39 cent, or 2 per cent, to close at €19.57.