Irish shares remained steady in a day that started with investor caution and finished with light volume. Analysts said Wall Street's tumble on Friday was behind the sentiment, which saw the ISEQ index finish slightly below its weekend close.

"Markets are fairly stable today considering the extent of the Dow plunge on Friday, and the Irish bourse is in line with that," one dealer said.

Financial shares were among the worst hit in Wall Street's 157 point tumble, and this caused Irish banks in turn to show some weakness, the dealer added.

By yesterday afternoon, Wall Street had opened steadier than before, while London flickered in and out of positive territory, buoyed by benign inflation data and positive gilts, and there was less nervousness in Dublin.

The main focus of attention on the market was the airline Ryanair, which was releasing its first quarter of financial information since its flotation in Dublin and the Nasdaq in May. The company reported pre-tax profits of £6 million for the three months to the end of June, and said in a statement that it would expand its fleet by one third.

"The Ryanair numbers were reasonable, but I think the market was expecting better, and we saw a bit of a sell-off," one investor said.

The airline's share price dropped 20p to 370p.

In the financial sector, Allied Irish Banks fell 3p to close at 615p, and Bank of Ireland dropped 6 7/8p to end at 840p. Irish Life fell 5p to end at 350p, and Irish Permanent lost 5p to close at 668p.

Building materials company CRH held its gains of almost 30p on Friday and climbed a further 2 1/4p to close at 732p. Smurfit, which said last week it would buy two companies in Germany at a cost of £29.7 million, rose by 1p to end on 226p.

Elsewhere, Greencore dropped 2p to 345p, Waterford Foods, soon to form part of the giant Avonmore Waterford group, fell 5p to 175p, and Fyffes climbed 2p to end at 100p.