The Dublin market eased back yesterday after profit-taking in some of the bigger stocks and a poor performance by Elan Corporation. However, the NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia did not weigh on international markets and Wall Street turned in a strong performance which gave confidence to Dublin traders in the afternoon.

AIB traded in large volumes and rose to €16.30 (£12.84) from €15.90 (£12.52). "When there is uncertainty in the air the financials tend to be where people go," said a dealer. Despite this, Bank of Ireland was subject to profit-taking after its recent strong run and fell back to €19.12 (£15.06) from €19.40 (£15.28).

Elan's poor fortunes began a few weeks ago after an article appeared in Fortune magazine questioning some of the company's accounting policies. The expectation that a filing for its Ziconotide drug will be delayed put further downward pressure on the stock, which slipped yesterday to €62.80 (£49.46) from €65.53 (£51.61).

The main piece of corporate news was Kingspan's 24 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £37.8 million (€48 million) in 1998. Dealers said the trading statement accompanying the results was "upbeat", but said reaction in terms of price movement might not take place immediately, although there was a slight upward move in the afternoon to €2.41 (£1.90) from €2.38 (£1.87).

Meanwhile, the poor results from Silvermines caused its price to drop to 38 cents (30p) from 40 cents (32p) in late trade. Independent Newspapers was one of the biggest casualties yesterday, falling 20 cents to €4.10 (£3.23). Dealers said this was a reaction to the 30 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to €88.9 million (£70 million) announced on Wednesday.