THE Irish market remained under the spell of contentment. Happy with the way the economy is poised with no slackening off in 1997. Happy with the latest Exchequer figures which point to lower tax rates in the next Budget.

And particularly happy with the prospect that interest rates may well be lower by the end of the year now that Ireland appears destined to be among the first to join the new single currency. It is this prospect in particular which is now making analysts look again at the projection for domestic companies.

Although CRH has most of its operations outside the country, around a quarter of its activities are domestically based, and its shares moved ahead to 646p in a firm market.

The banks which are expected to have lower foreign exchange earnings in a single currency environment, were dull enough yesterday. Bank of Ireland fell 4p to 496p. AIB behaved better and put on 2p to 375p.

One of the main features was Abbey which has a foot in two property markets. It stands to benefit from the uplift in the British housing market and will also enjoy some goodies in Ireland where it is expanding its housing operations, though buying suitable land banks at the right price, may pose some problems.

Although Ardagh recorded rather pedestrian results this week, the shares moved up 3p to 145p.

Fyffes moved a bit but with no clear trend, eventually putting on lp to close at 106p. Green which is all geared to don the Blanchardstown Shopping development mantle was sparky, rising 6p to 254p in two moves. Heiton which is a 100 years old this year was in a relaxed mood and gave 2p away to close at 105p.

Kerry was a feature but no one was quite sure why. Anyway it put on a healthy 9p at 687p.

Woodchester put on 7p at 212p on one view that Credit Lyonnais may sell its 53 per cent stake which could prompt a bid.