DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,719.65 (–28.65) Settlement date: October 27th:THE IRISH market eased into the bank holiday weekend with a lacklustre day's trading that saw the Iseq index slip 1 per cent on tiny volumes.

CRH gave up some of the strong gains recorded on Thursday, and at one point the cement stock dipped to a low of €12.40. By the end of the session it had traded back up to €12.55, but was still off 35 cent on the day.

Grafton Group also found itself under pressure, and slipped 1.5 per cent, or five cent, down to €3.18.

Banking stocks were all “a bit drifty”, one broker noted.

AIB settled at 39 cent, after trading between a range of 38 and 40 cent.

Irish Life Permanent, which yesterday was named as one of the final bidders for EBS, gave up 5.5 cent to finish at just over €1.59.

Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland failed to get a boost from the announcement that it has agreed to sell Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) to Boston-based financial services firm State Street, as the disposal was well-flagged and came as no surprise to the market.

The stock slipped just one cent to finish at 60 cent, on lower volumes than those seen in recent sessions.

Most stocks across the index closed lower which traders attributed to profit-taking after the market’s strong run on Thursday.

The management team of drinks manufacturer CC was on an investor roadshow in the US this week, but that did not prevent the stock from slipping slightly to €3.17 .

One of the few stocks to finish in positive territory was bookmakers Paddy Power, which jumped 1.7 per cent to just under €28.53.

Overall, the Iseq underper- formed its European counterparts, finishing down almost 29 points at 2,719.65.