TRADING in Dublin was quiet yesterday, with analysts describing the session as "featureless". Investors seemed cautious in the run up to the British general election on Thursday.

"Most prices are just marking time ahead of the election. It's also a big week in the US for data, especially the non farm payroll figures that are due for release on Friday," one analyst said.

Others said the markets were keeping a close eye on developments on Wall Street because of rumours that the US Federal Reserve is planning to announce another rise in interest rates next month.

Traders said that because British banks were all rising in London on the back of flotations by the Halifax and the Alliance & Leicester building societies, they expected to start the week with a jump in prices for Irish banks.

But while there was some late interest in Allied Irish Banks, the shares still closed back where they had begun the session at 457p. Bank of Ireland did not follow British counterparts either, falling by a penny to close at 677p.

Anglo Irish Bank fell from 83p to 82p, while Irish Permanent stayed where it started on 603p. Irish Life slipped 3p from 317p to 314p. Hibernian fell by 5p from 320p to 315p.

Paper and packaging giant Smurfit fell from 161p to 160p, and CRH also lost ground, falling from 639p to 637p.

After news that Greencore was on the way to solving a long running dispute with beet growers, the company saw its share value increase. By the end of trading the price had risen 12p from 318p to 330p.

Independent Newspapers slid by 5p, from 340p to 335p, while Heiton stayed on 109p. Fyffes fell a penny to 96p.

There was little movement in the food sector, with Golden Vale rising 1p to 65p and Kerry unchanged at 627p.

Mining group Arcon rose from 43.5p to 45p. Following an announcement, Dragon Oil saw a jump in its share price from 2.36p to 3.37p. Tuskar crept up from 6.5p to 6.75p, while Tullow fell from 96.5p to 95p. Ennex International rose 3p, from 25.5p to 285p.