THE Irish market had a relatively quiet week after recent turbulent activity.

US bond markets moved higher at the beginning of the week as analysts decided the US economy was not as strong as first feared.

On Monday, as the Irish market was closed for St Patrick's Day celebrations, Wall Street posted spectacular gains and closed at new highs.

The gains were slowly eroded over the week as profit taking set in amid nervousness over technology stocks and worries about sales of new personal computers.

Sentiment wasn't helped when Cirrus Logic said it expected to, report a "significant" loss for the current quarter, blaming falling chip prices. The company laid off 13 per cent of its staff because of the slump in PC sales growth.

Bad money supply figures from Germany also eroded sentiment, as the prospect of an immediate Bundesbank rate cut dimmed further.

The news on Thursday that there was to be a fresh bout of takeover activity in the British water sector when Severa Trent, the second biggest of the British water companies announced its intention of bidding for South West Water, produced a surge of buying interest across the water sector. Analysts expect the sector to attract more takeover activity. Financials ended the week up only sightly, following a quiet week in bond markets.

Bank of Ireland closed at the sterling equivalent of 416p from 413p the week before while AIB put on almost 3p to the sterling equivalent of 319.9p from 317p a week earlier.

Irish Life managed to add 9p close at 253p from 244p after it posted better than expected results towards the end of the week.

Unidare also ended higher after Dermond Desmond's International Investment and Underwriting disclosed a 5 per cent stake and Friends Provident announced it, too, had increased its interest in the group.

Buyers also piled into CRH at the beginning of the week, encouraged by news that its £55 million acquisition in the central US would add 1p to earnings and that there would be no goodwill writeoffs.

The mad cow scare proved to be a one day wonder for KerryGroup. It lost 20p in London trade on Thursday but remained stable on Friday. Avonmore remained unaffected.

Smurfit lost ground over the week after US analysts down graded the stock and predicted falling prices in some of its core products.

Elan bounced back strongly after its initial weakening following Monday's announcement of a £496 million takeover of Athena and the issue of 9.5 million shares. The Athena deal is seen as excellent for Elan despite the earnings dilution in the first year.

Green gained 17 1/2p to 227 1/2p from 210p after a recommendation from NatWest.