The Irish stock market ended broadly unchanged on the day as it missed out on a rally that drove other European exchanges and the US stock market higher. Shrugging off memories of the 1987 stock market crash, London shares halted a five-day losing streak to score their biggest point gain in three weeks while the Dow also performed strongly. But while the Dublin market reversed some of its earlier losses, it still closed slightly down on the day.

The leading industrial stocks managed to claw back some of the sharp losses of recent days, however, although the top financial shares had a mixed day. CRH, which has suffered of late, closed 40 cents higher at €18.05 (£14.22) while Smurfit edged up by two cents to €2.57 (£2.02) and Eircom also gained two cents to €3.91 (£3.08).

In the banking sector, AIB gained 10 cents to €11.90 (£9.37) but Bank of Ireland lost 10 cents to €7.70 (£6.06) and Irish Life & Permanent was also down 10 cents at €10.10 (£7.95).

In the high-tech sector, CBT proved the main focus of attention, losing some 40 per cent of its share value at one point despite announcing good third quarter results. By close of business in Dublin, it was down $9 or 33 per cent at $18.25. Dealers said the stock fell amid concerns that investment in its new Internet programme would affect profitability in the short-term.

Iona continued to experience some profit-taking after its post-results rally, losing $1 to $21 on the Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, exploration group Bula, which announced it had entered talks with Oilinvest with a view to establishing a strategic partnership, closed at .01625 cents (0.013p), up from .015 cents.