IN a quiet day for equities, the market was dominated by continued buying of Government stocks.

Following the trend of last week, buyers were seeking Government paper as the market sees the Irish currency being one of the first in the EU to join the single currency club. Both short - up 10 basis points and long gilts - up 20 basis points were higher as a result.

Investors are now taking positions in anticipation of a single currency in 1999. They are hedging their bets, said one dealer.

The banks, which will be among the losers in a single currency environment, because profits from foreign exchange would be considerably reduced, ended up weaker on the day. AIB first fell 2.5p to 369.5p, then strengthened, then weakened again. It tried to get stronger at the close but closed 2 1/2p down at 367p on the day.

Bank of Ireland behaved a little differently. Cyclical throughout the day, at one stage it was 3p higher at 495p. However, it fell later to close unchanged at 492p. Anglo Irish Bank weakened 1p to 68p.

Share prices never respond well to uncertainty. This was again proved by Greencore which had to contend with a picket by farmers at its headquarters. They were expressing their anger at the price of sugar beet. The shares fell 4p to 351p.

Irish Life, which has gone exdividend, opened at 250p ex dividend and in a number of deals it rose to 253p. However, it slipped at the end to close at 252p.

Irish Permanent saw some trading. It first fell 5p to 448p but was in a happier mood later and rose to 450p. Still, that represented a 3p fall on the day.

Smurfit was very active. Although it fell 3p to 167p early morning, there was a number of deals and it ended up unchanged at 170p.

Some of the food shares were brighter. Avonmore gained 2p to 172p while Kerry put on a much more impressive 20p to close at 670p.

A number of shares ended up unchanged. These included Ryan, Readymix, Jurys, and Arcon International.