The Dublin market showed signs of post-bank holiday lethargy yesterday with thin volumes and limited upward movement in many of the leading stocks. This ended up dragging down the overall ISEQ, although most stocks did recover from early lows.

Some dealers said large investors were "sitting on the sidelines for the moment" until there was less uncertainty in Asia.

The day started with the leading financials taking a hit. AIB falling as low as 916p, recovering to 921p at the close, down 161/2p since Friday. Most dealers put the slide down to early and low-level profit taking, some of it involving overseas investors.

Bank of Ireland fought its way back later, but still closed down 3p at £13.27 on the day.

Irish Life was the subject of attention from dealers, dipping early in the day before showing some vigour near closing, to finish at 584p, up more than 3p. The share price has been quite strong in the last week and trading volumes have been heavy.

Greencore was the source of the main corporate news of the day, with some dealers expressing disappointment in interim figures, while others simply said the results were in line with forecasts. One dealer said the poor return from the company's investment in Imperial Holly put a dampener on the overall figures. The share price dropped 3p to 390p on the day.

Powerscreen suffered as a result of numerous unfavourable stories in the weekend papers, dealing down once more from 129p to 75p in a late trade. "Despite its problems, if the auditors report comes out and says there is still some value there, some people will take their chances," was the comment of one dealer. Elan Corporation was down from £43.42 to £43.15, which was a small drop in the context of movements in the stock over recent weeks. The company announced yesterday that it had completed its $150 million acquisition of Carnick Laboratories, the privately-owned pharmaceutical company. The deal is expected to be earnings neutral this year.

The main upward movers on the day were Clondalkin, up 10p to 660p, Hibernian up 5p to 785p and Irish Continental which was up 10p to £13.

Those going in the other direction were Abbey, down 10p to 440p, Adare Printing down 10p to 990p, Arnotts down 10p to 640p and CRH down 14p to £10.05 on the day, although one deal at that closing price was also done on the bank holiday Monday and notified to the exchange yesterday.

Interim results from United Drug due today helped its shares push up 5p to 560p.