Market struggles to find any positive momentum

Dublin Report Settlement Day: Thursday 5thThe market closed a touch weaker last night after struggling to find any real positive momentum throughout the day.

Ryanair was once again high in investors' minds, with shares dipping down to €4.65 at one point before recovering slightly to close at €4.66, down 4.3 per cent on Friday's close.

The airline is due to discover the extent of its financial liability on Charleroi today.

In the financials, Bank of Ireland was under pressure for much of the day, with shares eventually finishing 1.2 per cent weaker at €11.24 on heavy selling.

AIB attracted less attention but shares still fell back by the same measure to €13.38.

Anglo Irish Bank was unchanged at €13.60, while Irish Life & Permanent dropped five cents to €13.55.

Bank of Ireland said that it had bought back 300,000 shares on Friday at €11.42 per share.

CRH, which has seen some volatility of late, was solid as it moved ahead five cents to €17.00.

Grafton added two cents to close at €5.77, boosted by positive UK merchanting sales for the final quarter of 2003.

Heiton, which received an upgrade from Davy to reflect last week's Waterford acquisition, rose by 1 per cent to €4.65. Bid speculation did little to drive McInerney, which rose one cent to €5.15.

Gresham was busier than usual, with investors now willing to place credence in a possible takeover offer at €1.35 or €1.40.

Shares in the hotel group dipped during the afternoon however, finishing one cent lower at €1.22.

Good volume was recorded in Independent News & Media, with shares closing unchanged at €2.12.

IWP dropped back by almost 6 per cent to 34 on healthy volume.

Outperformers on the day included Unidare, which rose by 7 per cent to €1.45 on reasonably low volume.

Greencore rose two cents to €3.29 in advance of Thursday's annual general meeting.

Waterford Wedgwood closed one cent higher at 26 cents.