Market report: Ryanair was the talk of the Irish market yesterday though not for the reasons its management would have liked.

At a press conference to announce the launch of one million free seats in Europe, deputy chief executive Michael Cawley responded to a question by saying that average fares could fall by as much as 10 per cent in June.

Dealers said the market reacted very badly to the news, which came less than two weeks after chief executive Michael O'Leary took investors by surprise talking about declining yields.

One dealer said the latest comments had infuriated a lot of investors as the company was supposed to be in a closed period ahead of its results on June 5th.

The shares dropped as much as 6 per cent, before recovering some ground to close down 4.5 per cent, or 25 cents, at €5.35. As many as 12 million shares changed hands in Dublin alone and the stock is down almost 12 per cent this month.

Volumes were also high in Independent News & Media, which saw more than 15 million shares change hands. It was unclear however whether the high volume means that telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien was again buying stock, although one dealer said the volume related to a large seller passing stock onto several different buyers.

The shares closed down 2.9 per cent, or 11 cents, at €3.65.

Things looked better for Kingspan, which added 2.1 per cent, or 42 cents, to end the day at €20.93. Dealers said the group was benefiting from a positive trading statement from one its UK peers and the likelihood that Kingspan itself would release a positive outlook statement at its own agm next week.

Newcomer Boundary Capitalhad another good day, rising 8.9 per cent, or 10 cents, to end its second trading day at €1.23.