International activity provided little inspiration and as a result the Irish market struggled to make progress yesterday, even though there was some sizeable trading in the two big banking stocks. Corporate news was confined to a deeply-discounted rights issue by Ennex and the announcement of a potential bid for Powerscreen.

Among the leaders, AIB traded in a narrow range and ended down 3 cents on €16.00 (£12.60) after trading as high as €16.20 (£12.76) while Bank of Ireland was firmer, trading up to a close of €19.40 (£15.28) after peaking at €19.50 (£15.36). CRH was 12 cents better on €16.00 (£12.59).

Powerscreen jumped 451/2p to 1491/2p sterling (€2.23) in London after the group disclosed that it had received a bid approach. The management, Mr Sean Quinn, Kingspan, Mr John Deere, Case and JCB have all been mentioned as possible bidders but analysts believe that any successful bid will need to be pitched well above the 1491/2p close in London yesterday.

Ennex came to the market with a £1.8 million rights issue pitched at 5p (6.35 cents) a share, a massive discount on the 14 cents at which the shares traded earlier in the day. It's an indication of the attitude towards exploration companies that Ennex has had to have the rights issue underwritten by chairman Mr Brian Cusack and Davy even though the rights issue has been priced at a 55 per cent discount to the last traded price.

On Nasdaq, ICON recovered marginally but is still well down on its level before the profits warning. Trinity Biotech, however, was trading 16 cents higher on $1.62 after it was disclosed that four of the directors had bought 557,000 shares on the open market and through exercising options.