The Dublin market was fairly quiet for most of yesterday, with investors still predominantly taking profits on the leading stocks following the recent jitters. The financials were all a bit easier on the day. AIB slipped well back dropping 11p to 580p with sellers emerging in the market throughout the day taking the share price lower.

News of AIB's disposal of the bulk of its US credit card business yesterday was not considered to be a negative factor for the stock.

Bank of Ireland was also marginally weaker, closing down a penny at 789p, having held at its previous closing level of 790p earlier in the day.

Irish Life remained unchanged at 346p, Irish Permanent also stayed unchanged at 660p, while Norwich Union was 2p stronger at 372p. FBD dropped 5p to 290p. Among the leaders, CRH gained a penny to close at 734p, unable to hold on to 736p levels seen in earlier trading. Meanwhile, Smurfit was weaker, slipping back 2p to 230p, again largely on profit-taking.

Some second-liners were also weaker, with Fitzwilton down a penny at 49p. Others fared better, however, with Kingspan going a penny higher to 626p, while Heiton was unchanged at 160p and Barlo remained at 57p.

The food stocks put in a mixed performance, with Waterford Foods slipping 2p to 173p, while Fyffes remained steady at 98p, Golden Vale was unchanged at 80p and Kerry held firm at 705p. Meanwhile, Irish bonds were broadly unchanged in fairly dull trading as the markets await some direction from overseas bond markets. The German market shrugged off the Bundesbank decision to leave its lombard and discount rates unchanged.

Dealers said the Bundesbank's setting of its repo rate next Tuesday will provide the next focus for the markets, while investors will also be keeping an eye on economic data releases, including German and US consumer confidence data next week.