INVESTORS in Dublin spent most of the day sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the outcome of meeting of the Fed's Open Markets Committee. With the Fed meeting on interest rates not concluding until well after the Irish market closed, there was little activity in Dublin apart from a minor flurry of late selling in the two main banks.

There was no obvious reason for the bout of selling in the banks, and in any event, the prices fell only a few pence with AIB 5p lower on 364p and Bank of Ireland off 4p to 483p. Other financials were also weaker, with Irish Life down 2p to 244p and Irish Permanent 1p lower on 241p.

Industrials were generally firmer and CRH dealt up 2p to 612p while Smurfit closed 1p higher on 164p even though JS Corp was marginally weaker overnight on Wall Street. Elsewhere, Clondalkin was 5p lower on 480p, James Crean lost 3 1/2p to 210p although Grafton dealt up to 680p before closing up 10p on the day on 670p.

Dunloe continued its impressive recent run and closed 1p higher on 25p. Heiton closed 7p higher on 105p while Jones - which fell heavily last week - closed 4p higher on 155p. Tullow did not trade in Dublin but closed on 100p sterling in London after 2.6 million shares traded.

That 93p sterling deal in London late on Monday is understood to have involved a market-maker closing out options and did not reflect the real level of Tullow shares.