YESTERDAY was not a very active day on the market, with volumes down compared to Wednesday. The easier tone mirrored the mood on Wall Street which was also down during the Dublin market's hours of trading.

There was quite a bit of profit-taking and the market retreated on fears of a short-term rise in US interest rates. Dublin was unaffected by the Government announcement of a general election on June 6th, with dealers saying it had been priced in.

There was not much trading in the financials, with AIB closing at 491p, down 1/2p on the day. Bank of Ireland closed 1 1/2p easier at 742 1/2/p. Woodchester climbed 5p to 290p.

Smurfit was one of the main movers, looking firm at the close on 177p, an increase of 4p. There were positive developments for the company on the US market, where strong box figures were published overnight.

Another mover was the DIY group, Heiton, on the back of the news of its £5.2 million acquisition of the plant hire company, Sam Hire. The stock closed up 2p at 127p.

Greencore, which closed down 17p on Wednesday in the wake of the European Commission announcement of a £6.6 million fine, recovered 2p to close at 327p.

The building materials company CRH closed down 4 1/2p at 678p and Clondalkin dropped 5p to 630p. Arnotts dropped 5p to 380p.

Among the food companies, Fyffes fell 2p to 93p, while Kerry gained 5p to close at 670p. Waterford Foods rose by 1p to close at 96p. Other movers were Lyons, which gained 5p to close at 325p and Readymix, which gained 6p to close at 151p. Jurys dropped 3p to 360p.