The modest early rebound on Wall Street after Monday's near 7 per cent fall allowed the Irish stock market to hold its ground yesterday, with little change in most of the leading stocks.

Some of the biggest gains were notched up by Ryanair after the positive tone of its trading statement and its assertion that it was comfortable with current full-year forecasts. With Schroder Salomon Smith Barney weighing in with an upgrade to "outperform", Ryanair recovered more ground after last week's 27 per cent losses and added 26 cents to €8.56 in turnover of 1.6 million shares. Ryanair is still 18 per cent off its pre-September 11th level but is seen as a likely beneficiary of the problems facing the European flag carriers, not least Aer Lingus which yesterday sought up to 1,600 cuts and revealed a range of route cuts.

A number of industrial stocks with specific US exposure remained weak, with CRH down 35 cents on €15.50 and now almost 27 per cent off its 2001 high. More than 4.2 million shares in Waterford Wedgwood - the stock probably most exposed to a downturn in US consumer spending - dealt as the share fell five cents to €0.75 while Smurfit fell five cents to €2.04.

There was little change in bank stocks, with AIB four cents easier on €11.06, Bank of Ireland down three cents on €9.05 and Irish Life shedding 14 cents to €11.70 with more than 2 million shares trading. IAWS jumped 28 cents to €7.78 after bumper full year results while Green was unchanged on €7 after buying back 1.1 million shares at that price. Since it began its buyback last May, Green has spent almost €23 million buying almost three million shares. Dublin's other property stock, Dunloe Ewart fell three cents to €0.29 after poorly-received half-year figures.