MARKET REPORT: The market had a less than spectacular day yesterday, with sellers making their presence felt across the board.

Impressive results from Grafton did little to stem the general malaise, with shares in the builder's merchant closing down almost 3 per cent at €6.05.

The drop followed a pattern set over the past few weeks where investors failed to be impressed by companies meeting expectations, seeking instead some measure of outperformance.

The financials were generally weaker, with Anglo Irish Bank leading the decline. Shares in the bank, which has been a positive mover over the past week, fell 41 cents to €13.62 on the back of a downgrade from Merrill Lynch.

AIB dropped nine cents to €12.19, while rival Bank of Ireland managed to finish unchanged at €10.55. Irish Life & Permanent slid 15 cents to close at €13.

CRH held up reasonably well after going ex-dividend by 19.9 cents. The firm closed at €17, down 17 cents.

FBD, which went ex-dividend by 17 cents, fell five cents to €15.20.

Elsewhere, Fyffes was again one of the busiest stocks on the market, with almost four million shares changing hands. The fruit firm fell five cents to €1.55.

Kingspan lost three cents to end the session at €4.25, despite attracting upgrades in the wake of Tuesday's solid results.

IAWS, which has also been treated to earnings upgrades after issuing good numbers, fell further, dropping 2 per cent to €9.54. Volume was light however.

Barlo was again a focus of attention for Mr Dermot Desmond, who picked up some three million shares in the MBO target.

His holding has now risen close to 17 per cent. Barlo closed unchanged at 42 cents.

Gresham, where a consortium is pursuing a takeover bid at €1.45, dropped back three cents to €1.20.

Horizon fell 12 cents to €1, in the wake of a director placing.