MARKET REPORT: The market marked time again yesterday, closing a mere 0.1 per cent lower as secondline stocks provided most of the interest.

Dealers said the big name shares had a generally dull day but a number of the mid- and small-cap stocks attracted investor attention.

Among them was Kingspan, which touched an all-time high of €6 before closing 25 cents, or 4 per cent higher, at €5.95. Dealers said the stock was increasingly surfacing on the radar screen of the international investor community. "It's now a small big-cap stock rather than a big small-cap," one dealer noted.

Also in the construction sector, Readymix was unusually active, with more than 2.4 million shares changing hands in the wake of the announcement of the Cemex bid for RMC, its 63 per cent shareholder. The share price remained unchanged, however, at €1.75.

DCC benefited from Monday's announcement of the acquisition of Shell's British oil distribution unit, adding 34 cents, or more than 2 per cent, to €14.70.

Unidare also made gains on the back of Monday's announcement that it would beat earnings forecasts, adding 30 cents, or 14 per cent, to €2.30.

United Drug, which has just finished investor roadshows and announced three new board appointments yesterday, added five cents or 1.6 per cent to €3.10.

Yesterday's losers included Ryanair, down six cents, or nearly 1.5 per cent, to €4.01 as concerns about the price of oil continued to weigh on the sector. Ryanair, whose hedging runs out at the end of October, will feel the pain if oil prices stay above $50 per barrel. Goodbody analyst Joe Gill says that, if oil prices remain at the current level, it could knock up to 30 per cent, or €80 million, off his forecast for operating earnings for the year to the end of March 2006.

Clinical trials group Icon also fell, losing nearly 8 per cent on the Nasdaq after first-quarter results showed a higher level of cancellations than expected. In Dublin, the shares finished unchanged at €29.85.Dublin ReportSettlement Day: October 1st