Market Report: The market had a busy end to the month yesterday, as a number of programme trades made their presence felt later in the day, writes Una McCaffrey

The programme action saw most financials lose ground.

AIB struggled to move on from Tuesday's disappointing results, losing five cents to close at €12.22. Bank of Ireland did well in early trade but was knocked back at auction, closing 12 cents weaker at €10.53.

The bank said it had bought back 120,000 shares on Thursday at €10.67. It has spent a total of €116 million on buybacks since November and is expected to continue with the strategy until the end of March.

Irish Life & Permanent was forced down on low volume, finishing seven cents weaker at €13.10. Anglo Irish Bank continued to recover, gaining 30 cents to close at €13.65.

IFG was busier than usual, with volume of some two million shares recorded. Dealers said this figure probably reflected some double counting however. IFG shares finished at €1.26, up almost 8 per cent.

CRH ran up to €17.00 in early trade before easing to close at €16.80, up five cents on the day. The group will deliver its 2003 results on Tuesday.

Jurys Doyle looked to be recovering from Thursday's declines for much of the day, but it too was hit in the end, closing at €10.12, down three cents.

Kingspan was busy as investors looked to results due the week after next. Shares rose by two cents to €4.32.

Grafton, which will report around the same time, added 10 cents to close at €6.00.

Irish Continental, also due to issue full-year numbers over coming weeks, rose by 30 cents to €12.00.

Independent News & Media shed 2.4 per cent to close at €2.02.

Ryanair attracted more business than of late, with some three million shares traded. The airline rose five cents to €4.75.

Elan did well as optimism grows on its drug pipeline. Shares closed at €11.35, up almost 7 per cent.