The Irish stock market closed lower yesterday, dragged down by a weak performance overseas.

Many of the leading stocks gave up ground although dealers said volume was relatively light and the Irish market held up better than many of its counterparts elsewhere.

In the banking sector, AIB lost 17 cent to €20.03 while Bank of Ireland was off by six cent to €14.95. Anglo Irish Bank also lost ground, closing 14 cent, or 1 per cent, lower at €13.75.

Kerry Group was the main news item on the day, as the group posted a 7 per cent increase in sales, operating profit and adjusted earnings per share for 2005. While the numbers were in line with expectations, dealers said the lack of any new positives or upgrades kept a lid on the share price, which closed nine cent lower at €18.56.

Investor attention now switches to Glanbia and Paddy Power, which report today. Shares in both companies added five cent yesterday to €2.75 and €13.25, respectively.

There was good volume in Eircom, with 16 million shares traded in Dublin and a further 20 million in London, although the share price was unchanged at €2.21.

Grafton had another good day, edging up by seven cent to €10.30, but Kingspan gave up 18 cent to €12.12 as Credit Suisse began research coverage of the company with an "underperform" rating and a share price target of €10.

"Although we believe the company has an attractive strategy and good product profile, we think the premium it currently trades on relative to its peer group is too great, especially given the competition Kingspan faces in its insulation division," the broker said.

Shares in Elan shed 51 cent, or 4.4 per cent, to €11.19 in Dublin, and were off by 13.5 per cent in New York after a negative note from US broker Piper Jaffray.

It was precisely a year to the day after news that it was withdrawing Tysabri caused the company's share price to collapse.