THE building materials group CRH came under selling pressure on the Dublin market and closed sharply lower although there was no huge level of trading. At the close, CRH was 12p lower on 602p while in London the share closed down 9 1/2p on 603p with a modest 264,870 shares trading.

Otherwise price changes were insignificant and, among the financials, Bank of Ireland was unchanged on 496p while AIB was 1p easier on 386p. In the ease of Bank of Ireland, Goodbody marginally increased its 1996/97 forecasts, but pulled back the 1997/98 profits forecast from £471.5 million to £465.7 million to reflect a later completion date for the Bristol & West takeover and consequently a smaller contribution from the British building society.

Elsewhere, Smurfit drifted 2p lower on 163p with the impetus from the bullish Salomon Brothers report fizzling out. Fyffes dealt in some size, but closed unchanged on 107p. Meanwhile, Green Property was unchanged on 225p as Goodbody upgraded its, year-end net asset value forecast from 242p to 255p per share.

Independent recovered some lost ground and closed up 5p on 300p, while Irish Life once again dealt in some size and closed on 262 5/8p sterling down about 1 3/8p. There was heavy London trading in Tullow where 4.4 million shares dealt as the share rose 1 1/2p to 81 5/8p sterling.

Gilt prices were largely unchanged with little impetus coming from overseas markets where bonds were finding it difficult to make much progress.