FALLING shares in London, as well as a slump in the international bond market, cast a pall over trading in Dublin yesterday. Dealers described the market as "lacklustre" and could point to few major stocks that did not slip.

"Sentiment has taken a knock recently, with the Dow running out of steam and the FTSE down on tax break fears," one dealer said, referring to newspaper reports from Britain that pension tax rules may be altered by the new Labour government in its upcoming budget on July 2nd.

"There are several uncertainties in the backdrop and this is playing on the Irish market," an analyst said.

The market ignored the news that US consumer prices had risen by a mere 0.1 per cent in May, compared to a market expectation of 0.2 per cent.

The main financial shares were unable to shake off the bad sentiment from London, with Allied Irish Banks falling 5p to close on 513p. Bank of Ireland fared only slightly better, easing 1p to end at 717p.

Irish Life remained unchanged at 350p, but Irish Permanent fell 7p to close at 615p. Woodchester also moved back, closing at 290p a fall of 4p on the day.

The biggest-gaining company of the trading day was the building materials firm CRH, which gained a full 20p, to close at 705p. Dealers suggested that this already has the hallmarks of an excellent week for the stock, pointing out that the company made a gain on Monday of 11p.

Among the other leading industrials, Smurfit slipped 5p to 193p, mirroring the general market decline. Independent Newspapers fell back 3p to 355p while insurance group Hibernian closed down 2p on 368p.

Industrial holdings company IWP, which last week announced a 1996 pre-tax profit of £22.4 million and said it had acquired an 80 per cent stake in Constance Carroll Holdings for £38.5 million sterling, saw its share price remain unchanged at 325p.

New arrival Ryanair traded briskly and bucked the general trend, closing up a penny at 326p having been as high as 330p earlier in the session.