MARKET REPORT: International stock markets were weaker after the poor outlook statement from Intel and dreadful results from JP Morgan, but the Irish market bucked the trend - boosted by some solid buying interest in the two big banks and CRH.

Settlement Day: January 21st

AIB was helped by the presence of overseas buyers, who pushed the shares as high as €12.35, but at that level the stock hit some selling pressure and closed up 16 cents on €12.27. Bank of Ireland was also the focus of some bid interest - hitting a high of €10.69 before stock started to come out - and it closed up 13 cents on €10.63. Brokers said, however, that there was stock on offer at €10.60 and the share may weaken today.

With three brokers -- two domestic and one overseas - bidding for stock, CRH was in good demand, hitting a high of €19.18 before closing 18 cents higher on €19.12.

There was some hefty trading in selected second-liners, with almost 1.9 million Glanbia shares - including a single line of 1.3 million - trading as the stock lost a cent to €1.33. Fyffes came in for some selling and lost two cents to €1.24 with 1.7 million shares trading. Heiton's interim results were well received and the share gained 20 cents to €3.05 in thin trading.

Kerry had a good day, gaining 15 cents to €14.25 with more than 600,000 shares trading. Kerry is attracting buy interest with the stock seen as a good long-term value play. Ryanair lost 13 cents to €6.59 while Smurfit was two cents higher on €2.45.

Waterford Wedgwood lost three cents to €0.83 in turnover of 4.3 million shares. Abbey drifted 15 cents to €3.80 - but the stock has been attracting the attention of Fidelity which has added 500,000 shares to its holding to take its stake from 8.07 per cent to 9.54 per cent.