The Dublin market was described as extremely quiet yesterday with investors concentrating almost exclusively on the top five stocks.

Although the ISEQ fell by only 0.1 per cent, in contrast to larger falls on most European markets, dealers attributed this to Dublin's tendency to lag behind its main European counterparts.

"Nobody here thinks we are immune to the wider international trends, but there is normally a bit of a delay before it hits us," said a dealer.

Trading volumes were exceptionally low, with most secondline stocks untouched by traders. Even the larger names like Elan did not budge. However, AIB continued to enjoy the goodwill generated by its interim results announced last week. It reached a new high of 1164p during the day - just a shade off the point where its market capitalisation would exceed £10 billion - before closing at 1155p. Many dealers expect it to pass this symbolic point over the next few days, international factors permitting.

"AIB seems to be driving the market on its own at the moment," said a dealer.

International uncertainty was partly reflected in the slowdown in Bank of Ireland's share price, which shed 6p to close down at 1400p. "A lot of international buyers are just staying out of the market at present," said a dealer.

One of the big losers on the day was Independent Newspapers, which has been slipping badly over the last month as the Australian and New Zealand economies suffer a downturn. It closed down 15p at 300p.

The lack of interest in secondline stocks meant that Silvermines shares attracted little attention, despite its announcement of a 54 per cent increase in pre-tax profits. The improved profits were made despite problems in Asia and the strength of sterling, the company pointed out.

Arnotts was one of the winners on the day, rising 25p to close at a respectable 640p. The rise was despite the sale of its shares by some European funds.

CRH finally found some relief as its share price put on 3p to close at 905p. Last week it lost considerable value and dealers say that profit takers may finally be taking a rest.

Other winners on the day were the Clondalkin Group, up 20p to 600p, Hibernian Group, up 10p to 670p, and Irish Life, which was particularly strong, up 13p to 663p.

Moving in the wrong direction were Kerry Group, down 5p to 875p, Waterford Wedgewood, down 3p to 82p, and Iona Technologies, dropping back 9p at 2066p.