Dublin report: The leaders set the pace on the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday, starting off strongly before drifting off in the afternoon, with the result that the Iseq index of Irish shares finished down slightly.

The major stocks - the banks and building materials group CRH - were largely responsible for the direction of the market.

There were good fortunes for CRH, which broke through the €38 barrier to close at €38.10, up 36 cent or almost 1 per cent.

But Bank of Ireland, which traded up at about €15.30, ended up losing 24 cent on the day to close down 1.5 per cent at €15.02 as 2.5 million shares changed hands. At AIB things were a little quieter, with just 1.5 million shares traded, and the stock closed down 4 cent at €20.80. Anglo lost 14 cent to close at €14.85.

There was some activity in Glanbia, with 1.5 million shares trading in a block at €4.00. The stock spiked at €4.15 before falling back to close at €4.02.

Drinks group C&C, which is in the middle of share buyback programme, saw some activity ahead of its agm on Friday. There was good two-way business in the stock, according to dealers, with volume of three million.

The stock is closely monitored, with NCB publishing an upbeat field survey on the availability and popularity of Magners in Barcelona and Munich, where the cider is being pilot-tested.

Packaging group Smurfit Kappa had another strong day on the back of rising container board prices, finishing up more than 2 per cent at €19.33, a climb of 40 cent.

Tullow Oil, which issues a trading update this week, attracted some buyers in anticipation of further good news from the company. It continued a recent good run by finishing up nearly 2 per cent at €7.83.

Settlement day: July 12th