The market closed 1.39 per cent weaker at 6,338.03 in line with international markets which suffered from Microsoft's warning of slow revenue growth amid sluggish demand for personal computers. In a relatively quiet day's trading, the star performers on the day were Jurys Doyle and Kerry Group. Still benefiting from its recent good results, Jurys Doyle jumped 39 cents to #10.50 with more than 44,700 shares changing hands. Kerry Group picked up 29 cents to close the day at #14.49 with more than 200,000 shares traded.

Leading industrial CRH was still under pressure and continued its downward trend. It fell 16 cents to #19.72. Smurfit-Stone's better-than-expected result was reflected in buyers moving into the ordinary Smurfit stock. Despite just under five million shares changing hands, Smurfit's price remained unchanged at #2.38 on the close of business.

Financials enjoyed a mixed day. AIB was 11 cents stronger at #13.11 with just under 800,000 shares traded, while First Active picked up 2 cents to #3.05. Bank of Ireland dropped back 17 cents to #11.73 on a volume of nearly 2.8 million shares. Also trading down were Anglo Irish Bank, which slipped 3 cents to #4.55, and Irish Life & Permanent which closed at #13.57, down 13 cents.

As the ISEQ closed, Irish tech stocks on the Nasdaq were all trading down. Parthus was 5.56 per cent weaker at $7.65, while Trintech has dropped 1.44 per cent to $2.06. Baltimore was trading down 1.11 per cent at $0.89 and Smartforce was 2.93 per cent weaker at $33.50.