FORGET the rise in the ISEQ; that was all down to another strong performance in New York by Elan, with the index merely being adjusted to take account of the Wall Street movements by the market's fifth-biggest company. Otherwise it was a dull day although Ryanair traded up to a new high on the grey market ahead of Thursday's formal launch.

By the close in Dublin, Elan was up almost another dollar to $41 5/8, with strong demand for the shares from US institutions.

From its overnight close, Ryanair was up another 12p to 332p having hit 334p in earlier trading and was well-supported at those closing levels by strong-buying interest from US institutions.

How much further Ryanair can go is a moot point and one broker yesterday expressed scepticism at Ryanair's price/earnings multiple in the mid-20s, while airline giants like British Airways, Lufthansa, South-West and Delta are trading on multiples between eight and 17. Ryanair's flotation price of 195p put it on a p/e of 14, a rating that some believe is a more accurate reflection of its. worth than its current lofty station.

The leaders were unchanged to marginally lower, although Bank of Ireland dropped 10p to 705p from its close of 715p in late trade on Friday, while AIB was 2p easier en 506p. CRH was unchanged on 658p while Smurfit eased 1p to 181p. Avonmore, however, hit a new high with a 1p gain to 260p while Greencore was 4p higher on 344p ahead of today's interim figures.

Grafton jumped 30p to £10.10 and there must be a strong likelihood of a share split given the price of the shares. Other companies have split their shares to make them more marketable at much lower prices than Grafton's.

Disclosures by James Crean and Unidare show the arrival of a new US investor on the Irish market, Tweedy Browne, a New York investment house, has disclosed that it now owns 6.8 per cent of Crean and 5.1 per cent of Unidare, leading to speculation that it is adopting a strategy of investing in recovery situations.