Weakness on Wall Street and other international markets and a weaker dollar dragged the Irish market lower although there was no great size to the trading. Most of the leaders fell by a few pence and the direction of the market will be dictated by movements on Wall Street today.

The gilt market was dominated by the announcement by the NTMA of a new 2008 benchmark medium-dated gilt and a £250 million auction of the new stock next Tuesday. Most in the market believe that there will be strong demand for the new stock from market-makers, especially following yesterday's extraordinary inflation figures, but there is likely to be little activity ahead of that auction.

Among the leading stocks, AIB suffered the worst from the weaker sentiment and fell 7p to 563p while Bank of Ireland was 5p lower on 771p. CRH drifted 2p lower to 730p while Smurfit lost 4p to 211p.

James Crean dropped 20p to 150p in late trading on Wednesday in a reaction to its dismal first half results, while in contrast, Independent jumped 13p to the sterling equivalent of 413p after its excellent first half figures. Irish Permanent lost 7p to 603p while Galen - on its debut in Dublin - dealt at 282p and 288p. In London, Galen was unchanged on 264p sterling.

New Ireland dealt unchanged at £16 after the reports that French parent AXA has plans to sell the group. Any of half a dozen companies in the Irish insurance market are seen as likely bidders, with Irish Life, Irish Permanent, AIB's Ark Life, Bank of Ireland's Lifetime, Eagle Star, Norwich Union, Standard Life and Scottish Provident all seen as potential interested parties.