Trading was reasonably busy on the market, with volumes up on previous days. The banks traded noticeably up, with dealers saying there was a good deal of buying pressure pent up since the start of the week. This was due to a recovery in the bond market and the Woodchester deal, which encouraged people to deal more in the financials.

The acquisition of Woodchester by GE Capital did not excite the markets much in itself, with some dealers expressing disappointment with the share price of £2.65p, saying it should have been nearer £3.

The stock fell in the morning and, despite a brief rally, the closing price of 255p was around the value predicted by dealers previously.

The most prominent movement among the financials was Bank of Ireland which was up 8p at 803p. AIB mirrored the trend rising 11p to close on 574p, Irish Permanent was up 4p at 623p, while Irish Life dealt up 3 1/2p to finish on 346p. Greencore dealt down once again, closing at 319p, a decline of 4p on the day, with investors saying they remain unconvinced about its future plans.

The other main movers were Kerry, which added 13p to finish on 758p, CRH, which rallied to close up 1 1/2p at 724 1/2p, smaller stock like DCC, which traded strongly, rising 10p to close on 415p. The main stocks to deal down, apart from Greencore, were Crean, down 3 1/2p at 155p, Green Property down 3p to 360p and Kingspan, which was down 40p at 1150p.

The bond market saw moderate activity at the short end. The switch from the 2006 to the new 2008 bond offered by the NTMA was immediately taken up.

The market liked the switch terms and the weakening of the pound was not enough to stop medium and long bonds remaining in good shape as well.

The market is said to be keenly interested in today's Avonmore/ Waterford interims, with dealers looking to scrutinise the company's joint statement on how cost savings will be made.