Dublin Report: Jurys Doyle was the centre of attention on the Iseq yesterday, with nearly eight million shares changing hands, many of them at a new high of €18.00.

The stock ended the session 35 cent, or 2 per cent stronger, at €17.85 as it emerged that developer Sean Dunne had been stake-building through NCB and Dolmen Stockbrokers.

Mr Dunne ended the day with an 18.23 per cent holding, a large part of which he purchased from Bank of Ireland.

Things were quieter elsewhere, but volumes continued to creep up as investors looked to the start of a new results season.

Eircom will kick off proceedings this morning with first-quarter numbers and, it is hoped, some detail on plans for its €420 million acquisition of Meteor.

The stock was in demand yesterday as it climbed by two cent to €1.80.

CRH, which reports first-half results next Tuesday, was also fairly busy but sellers were in the ascendancy. Shares fell by 40 cent to €22.10 as dealers pointed to investor concerns about how high oil prices will affect reported numbers.

Also reporting next Tuesday is Kerry, which yesterday fell five cent to €20.70 on reasonable volume. NCB expects first-half sales and earnings to increase by 6 per cent.

The banks were a touch weaker, with AIB falling by three cent to €17.52 and Bank of Ireland losing five cent to close at €12.85.

Anglo Irish gained 10 cent to reach €10.98. Irish Life & Permanent, which will today restate last year's interim results under new accounting standards, added two cent to end the day at €14.80. Ryanair weakened by 10 cent to €6.75 on low volume.

Lower down the table, Dragon Oil was a little less excitable than on the previous day, rising by two cent to €2.11. The stock has been boosted by positive talk about its assets in the Caspian Sea.

Waterford Wedgwood lost 1.61 per cent, but remained above the six cent mark at the close.

Settlement Day: August 29th