AS weaker bond markets and a sell-off of selected industrial shares drove Wall Street down over 30 points, the Irish market suffered profit-taking for the second successive day and most of the leaders closed down a few pence.

Dealers in Dublin, however, are relatively relaxed over the weakness of the past two days and bar a late sell-off on Wall Street last night there is little reason to expect any concerted selling of Irish shares.

Yesterday, most of the interest was in AIB which closed down 3p on 393p while Bank of Ireland was also 3p lower on 518p. Industrials were also lower and CRH lost 7p to 635p - albeit in tiny volumes - while Smurfit was 2p lower on 167p.

Bond prices in Dublin were driven by the fall of US treasury bonds after the latest jobless figures were interpreted as indicating that the US economy may be more robust than had previously been thought. German bond prices were also lower and extended their losses on speculation that there will be no German interest rate cuts in the short-term.

In Dublin, bond prices fell between 20p and 40p, with the five-year gilt closing on a yield of 6.07 per cent while 10-year gilts were yielding 6.80 per cent at the close.