The Dublin market was stronger yesterday, despite a flat day in London and caution among some investors as the end of the second quarter approaches.

The overall index was buoyed up by the strong demand for stock, particularly among the leaders. The recent good run for Elan in New York has also helped matters, according to traders.

The banks had a particularly good day with Bank of Ireland leading the way, closing up 40p at 1450p. Trading in AIB was heavier and it closed at a firm 1029p, up from 1015p.

"There is no particular reason, but there is just strong demand for the financials at the moment," said a dealer. Other stocks like Irish Permanent, up 5p to 840p, and Irish Life, up 13p to 650p, also benefitted from the upward movement.

While CRH only put on 10p to close at 1025p, dealers said this closing price did not reflect the overall interest in the shares. "After the financials CRH is the focus of attention for many investors at the moment," a dealer said.

Greencore was up from 386p to 389.5p in a sterling trade. The Stock Exchange was notified that Putnam Investment Management, the US investment company, now has a 5.71 per cent stake in the food company.

Grafton Group did not benefit from the normal boost for the building material stocks and lost 10p to close at 1790p. One of its directors, Mr Fergus Malone, announced that he had disposed of 4,000 of the company's shares.

Despite announcing that its 85 million redeemable preference shares have been listed on the Luxembourg stock exchange, Independent Newspapers, lost 5p to close at 395p. Adare Printing, which announces end-of-year results today, will hope that its 30p fall to 920p is not a sign of things to come.

Adare's slide was reflected by several smaller stocks, and dealers said a correction is currently taking place among the smaller names.

It is taking place because the smaller stocks have been making large gains in recent weeks and now they have to face the inevitable bout of profit-taking, traders said. Also, the weakening is part of an international trend, particularly evident on Wall Street.

Among those who suffered because of it yesterday were Crean, down 1p to 158p and United Drug, which was down 5p to 565p.