After all the fears expressed in advance the April US employment figures proved to be a damp squib, with stock prices pressing ahead steadily even though the 3.9 per cent jobless rate shows that the US economy continues to race ahead with no sign of a slowdown. The market's attitude was that the jobs figures merely reinforced the view that the Fed will hike rates by half a point.

The main feature of an otherwise dull Irish market was further weakness at Eircom, which closed 10 cents down on €3.75 - well off the €3.90 flotation price. The overhanging KPN and Telia stakes continues to depress the shares - it remains to be seen what impact, if any, the collapse of KPN's merger with Telefonica will have on Eircom.

CRH was also weaker - down 35 cents to €19.05, while AIB was down over 20 cents on €11.00. Bank of Ireland was in better form ahead of next week's results and closed up 112 cents on €7.72, while Anglo Irish continued to benefit from good interim results and was up eight cents on €2.61.

Some of the food stocks were weaker, with Glanbia down five cents to match its recent low of 65 cents. Glanbia holds its a.g.m. next week and investors will be hoping for some signs of hope from that meeting. Greencore drifted eight cents to €3.05, while Smurfit dropped three cents to €2.25.

Among the technology shares, Internet security company Baltimore initially got a boost from the latest computer virus, but shook off most of those early gains to close £1.47 firmer on £72.66 sterling. The early gains on Nasdaq helped Baltimore to trade over $3 higher by midday at just under $114.50. Trintech, however, had a poor day and lost €3.35 on the Neuer Markt to hit €25.00 and was later trading over $1.50 lower on Nasdaq around $22. SmartForce was hit by profit-taking after recent gains and was down almost $2.50 at just above $50.