The Irish market fell sharply, in line with the general tone on most international markets even though Wall Street was showing indications of breaking out of a narrow trading range as the Irish market closed. The weakness in London following the gloomy forecasts for manufacturing by the British Chamber of Commerce and a sharply higher than expected public sector net cash requirement (PSNCR). The figure of £6.15 billion in June compares with average forecasts of £4.6 billion from economists.

Most of the leaders lost ground and the bigger financial shares - which have led the charge to near the market's all-time high - suffered most. Investors used the weakness in London to take some sizeable profits from the Irish financials.

AIB closed 23p lower at the sterling equivalent of £11.15, Bank of Ireland lost 12p to £15.15, Hibernian traded 10p weaker closing on 765p while Irish Life lost 15 1/2p to close at 694 1/2p. Irish Permanent was 5p easier on 965p while Anglo Irish hit a new high of 209p before closing on the sterling equivalent of 205.7p, marginally up on the day.

The leading industrials also traded weaker with Smurfit 2p easier on 200p but struggling to stay at that level. Smurfit, however, may get some support from a marked improvement by JS Corp on Wall Street where the shares finally bounced off the floor to trade $3/4 higher on $14 1/2 as the Irish market closed. With merger partner Stone also firmer, some analysts believe that the sell-off in the sector has gone too far and that both JS Corp and Stone are soon due to show a bit of a recovery. Elan was 127p lower in Dublin on £51.01, but was trading $1 1/4 higher at $72 1/4 in New York. In a detailed 160-page review, Goodbody is extremely bullish about Elan's prospects and believe that the shares are an essential component of any Irish investor's portfolio.

Goodbody believes that growth from its existing products should average 20 per cent over the next five years while new products are expected to generate additional revenue of $760 million by 2002 - trebling Elan's sales to over $1 billion. Goodbody analyst, Ms Joan Garahy, who compiled her report when Elan was trading at $65 (it was over $72 yesterday) has put a 12-month target of $80 for the shares.

Elsewhere on Nasdaq, Iona came back from its recent highs ahead of its second quarter results next week, and was trading $1 1/4 lower on $38 3/8 as the Irish market closed. CBT was also weaker although Esat was trading $7/8 higher on $42 7/8 as it set up a new subsidiary to tap into the residential phone market post-deregulation.

Back in Dublin, CRH was 7p lower on £10.40, Irish Continental was unchanged on £11.50 as Fidelity disclosed a 5.01 per cent stake while Ryanair was 3p easier on 605p as director Mr Ray MacSharry disclosed that he has sold 11,000 shares.

Celtic Resources has been given a resounding vote of confidence by company broker Davy which believes that very little of Celtic's potential, in the form of its Russian gold project, is reflected in its 10p share price