MODEST profit taking continued on the Dublin market despite a strong opening on Wall Street and a firmer session in London. Price movements were once again insignificant, with the absence of serious trading being due to early departures from dealing desks for the long weekend.

Among the leaders, AIB dealt down 4p to 389p while Bank of Ireland was 1p easier on 517p. CRH continued to drift lower in tiny volumes and lost 5p to 630p while Smurfit went against the trend and added 2 1/2p to 169 1/2p.

Elsewhere, Adare - which fell as low as 450p after the loss of its Microsoft printing contract a few months ago - continued its recovery and closed up 5p on 550p while Clondalkin closed unchanged on 480p after dealing as low as 460p in earlier trading.

There was a flurry of trading in Fyffes at 99p and loop before the shares closed unchanged at the higher level.

Greencore gained 3p to 357p - its newly acquired associate Imperial Holly is expected to report good quarterly results next week - while Irish Life was 1p firmer on 263p.

Dana dealt up 1/2p to 16 1/2p after announcing its all paper agreed takeover bid for Petroceltic at the equivalent of 35p per share. Petroceltic shares actually traded at 28p ahead of the announcement but were bid at 32p at the close.

Gilts regained some of their losses after strong US durable goods figures had earlier weakened international bond markets. There was little activity, however, with many dealers knocking off early for the bank holiday.