The Irish stock market failed to derive much benefit from the expectation that the Federal Reserve's policy-making committee would leave US interest rates unchanged, even though stock markets in the US and in Europe perked up in advance of the Fed announcement.

After the 30 per cent gains so far this year, some dealers expect the market to take a break, although the motto "sell in May and go away" is unlikely to take hold.

Corporate news was thin on the ground, with only confirmation of the Green bid for Trafford Park disturbing the peace and quiet. The general view is that this is a good deal for Green if it pulls it off, providing an expansion of its industrial property business and an influx of new institutional shareholders if the institutions on the Trafford Park share register opt for Green paper rather than cash. Green shares were unchanged on 530p.

Among the financials, there were signs of some sellers of Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish. Bank shares managed to close unchanged on £14 after hitting a low of £13.90, while Anglo was 4p easier on 193p. AIB, however, put on 6p to 951p, Irish Life gained 4p to 614p, although Irish Permanent lost 5p to 910p.

Industrials were generally firmer, with Smurfit up 3 1/2p to 254p as JS Corp made up lost ground on NASDAQ. CRH was 9p stronger on £10.74, while Greencore gained 5p to 400p, although Independent lost 10p to 400p. Arnotts was unchanged on 645p as Fidelity disclosed that it had 253,000 shares (1.4 per cent of the total) last week, to take its stake in the retail group to 7.73 per cent.)