MARKET REPORT:AFTER A pretty poor week, the Irish market finished fairly flat yesterday, up by almost 1 per cent or 48 points to 5,626.15.

Although trading volumes were below average overall, activity in Ryanair was buoyant, with more than 20 million trades in the stock in Dublin and London.

Ryanair was also one of the biggest climbers on the Iseq, up almost 7 per cent or 20 cent on the previous day, to close at € 3.25. Falling oil prices were behind the airline's performance although Aer Lingus did not fare so well, and it climbed by just 0.5 per cent to € 1.51.

While weaker oil prices favoured Ryanair, Tullow Oil did less well, falling by 2.2 per cent to € 11.45.

Banking stocks had a mixed day and the overall financials index was up by just 0.6 per cent, with some banks still trading close to 52-week lows.

Bank of Ireland was one of the better performers, closing up 28 cent or 4 per cent at € 7.03 on the day, while Irish Life Permanent was up by more than 12 cent or 1 per cent to € 9.52. Performing less well however were AIB and Anglo Irish Bank, who were both down on the previous days, AIB dropping by 40 cent to € 11.21 and Anglo by 18 cent to € 7.00.

Dealers said it was hard to justify the discrepancy between these two banks and their peers.

There were signs of some strength in food stocks, with Kerry Group up 80 cent or 4.15 per cent to € 20.10, IAWS up 20 cent or 1.3 per cent to € 15.70 and Fyffes up by 0.68 per cent to € 0.74.

After taking a beating on Thursday following its annual meeting, trading in Independent News Media was light, and while it was down as much as 3 per cent at some points, there was a rally at close and it finished the day largely unchanged, up 1 cent at € 1.92.

Settlement date: June 18th