Prices edged higher on the Irish market as international markets staged a bit of a recovery. Technology stocks, however, remained under pressure and that pressure may limit the first-day premium for Parthus which begins trading on London and Nasdaq today. The shares will be priced within a 70-89p sterling range in London and between $10.91 (€12.24) and $13.25 for the Nasdaq-listed ADRs.

With Anglo Irish's effective takeover of First Active possibly being announced as early as today, the market's scepticism about the benefits for Anglo were reflected in a 10 cent fall in the shares to €2.45 while First Active was 10 cents higher on €2.15.

Another special situation stock, Adare, also took a 25 cent tumble to €7.75 as the market waits to find out whether the MBO group has been able to resurrect a bid that was heading for the rocks last week. At €7.75, however, Adare is well off the €9.10 reached immediately after the MBO approach was revealed and that suggests that the market is not confident of a positive result.

Waterford Wedgwood made a tidy profit when it sold eight million treasury shares - bought back in October 1998 at around 75 cents - into the market at €1.08 each. That lump of shares is equivalent to about 1 per cent of the total equity and should add some liquidity - the shares closed down 2 cents on €1.06. Ryan was 3 cents firmer on €1.03 in the wake of the buying of a 16.6 per cent stake by Red Sea Hotels.

Greencore was 15 cents firmer on €3.00 in response to the latest buying by Mr Dermot Desmond, while Fyffes regained 10 cents to €1.98 despite some resentment among investors at the profits warning.