Shares on the Dublin market were unable to match strong performances in London, Europe and New York yesterday. Volumes remained fairly thin throughout trading with overseas investors largely absent. The Dublin market has tended to lag behind its contemporaries but dealers are optimistic that Irish share prices will take off once again over the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, Ryanair continued its sparkling performance on the London Stock Exchange with the shares soaring to a new high. The shares climbed gained 201/2p to close at 524p sterling, an increase of more than 4 per cent on the day as investors snapped up stock.

The airline's chief financial officer, Mr Michael Cawley, said much of the demand for the shares had come from investors who failed to get the full allocation of shares sought. The share placing was five times oversubscribed. In Dublin, the shares also closed sharply higher, at 615p, up 30p.

Most other shares traded unchanged with a few dipping lower on the back of weaker sentiment.

The financials had mixed fortunes. AIB managed to move ahead, trading as high as £11.25 at one stage but later fell back to close 5p ahead at £11.20. Bank of Ireland was unable to make any progress though, with the shares ending the session 27p lower at £15.20.

Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Permanent were both unchanged at 200p and 960p respectively, while Irish Life traded ahead strongly, edging up as high as 725p, but was unable to sustain these levels by close of business, moving back to 716p, some 4p stronger.

In the food sector, Avonmore Waterford, went 5p ahead to 300p, Golden Vale rose 3p to 115p, Fyffes was steady at 168p, while Greencore dropped back 2p to 395p and Kerry lost 5p to close at 980p.