Dealers described trading in Dublin as flat and uneventful with most of the activity centered around the leaders. The record highs of the past few days in New York have failed to prompt similar fervour in Dublin so far, with the overall index barely moving forward yesterday.

"There are particular reasons for New York's performance and Dublin is not reacting to it just yet," said one dealer.

Dealers expressed significant satisfaction with Golden Vale's 1997 results and remarked upon how far ahead of forecasts they were.

"Everybody took them in a positive light and there will be definite upgrades in their price," said one dealer.

The results mean Golden Vale is now almost back at the profit levels of 1995 before a succession of disasters sent profits tumbling the following year.

Another dealer said the belief the company was now positioning itself for acquisitions would probably mean the stock staying strong for some time. "The demand is likely to increase over the next few weeks, slowly but quite strongly," said one dealer.

In the end, the share price fell from 98 1/2p sterling to 114p, mainly because the markets had already pushed the price up on Tuesday evening in expectation of the results.

Elsewhere, the leaders were the main movers on the day with traders not prepared to dip into lower valued stocks.

Although AIB only moved up 3p to 818p, the shares were heavily traded.

Bank of Ireland dropped back earlier in the day, but recovered its value to end unchanged on 1225p.

Rumours about an acquisition of British Dredging by the Grafton Group only delivered a comparatively small rise in its share price from 1520p to 1530p.

The Independent Group's share price, which dealers say has been "sluggish" in recent weeks, dropped back 3p to 457p in late trading, although this was not said to have anything to do with its decision to increase its stake in New Zealand newspaper group, Wilson & Horton.

The announcement of a deal with Celtic Resources by Ivernia West saw it put on 2p to 87p in relatively thin trade.

Powerscreen's share price is not expected to recover much despite a meeting planned tomorrow between the company and investors. "Most of us are awaiting the auditors' report due in March," said one dealer.