Weak overseas markets after the shock overnight earnings warning from Intel meant that the Irish market generally traded lower, although turnover in most of the leading shares was low with only 9.4 million shares changing hands.

Ryanair was one of the best performers on the day, rising 14 cents to €8 after an upbeat statement at yesterday's annual general meeting. The other star performer was foods group IAWS, which jumped 50 cents to €8, just short of its €8.10 all-time high. The dud of the day was Eircom, which fell seven cents to €2.39, just short of its €2.35 all-time low.

Most of the leading shares were weaker, with the banks lower across the board. AIB and Bank of Ireland both lost 13 cents, with AIB closing on €10.62 and Bank of Ireland on €7.50. Irish Life was 20 cents lower on €10.55.

Among the industrials, CRH drifted 16 cents lower to €17.87, Smurfit was five cents lower on €1.87 and Independent lost 13 cents to €4.35. Jurys was 30 cents weaker on €8.25 while exploration tiddler Ormonde gained 10 cents to 60 cents for its basket of 10 shares as the group signalled an underwritten rights issue.

Intel's woes did not really reflect the situation of the Irish technology companies, most of which are software rather than hardware-based. The only ones to lose any real ground were Parthus and Iona, and even then losses were less than 3 per cent, a far cry from Intel's 22 per cent collapse.