The Irish stock market closed broadly unchanged despite a busy day for certain stocks.

Eircom traded in good volume with the shares rising by four cents, or 3.1 per cent, to #1.31 after eIsland's fresh offer of #1.36. Dealers said there was heavy selling at #1.32 but the stock failed to push higher than that amid a feeling that the shares were fully valued at that level.

"If the bid does succeed, it will take time to close and you have to discount that back," one dealer said. AIB and Bank of Ireland both enjoyed a good performance amid on-going interest in financial stocks. AIB closed 19 cents higher at #13.20 while Bank of Ireland gained seven cents to #11.72. CRH, however, faltered, losing 45 cents to #20.03.

Another loser on the day was Ryanair, down 20 cents or 1.7 per cent to #11.80 as the market responded negatively to news of a price war with low-frills British airline Go on the Dublin-Edinburgh route.

By contrast, Smurfit rose by nine cents to #2.36 following Thursday's announcement from International Paper that it was cutting containerboard capacity by 12 per cent.

In the technology sector, Baltimore got off to a strong start following news of an approach by the privately-owned British security firm, Chantilley Corporation. The shares rose strongly in early trading to 41.5 pence sterling but gave up most of their gains in afternoon trade as scepticism set in. They closed just 1p higher in London at 31p. "The shares drifted back as people came to the conclusion there was little chance of this particular overture succeeding," one dealer said.

On the Nasdaq, Baltimore was down 23 per cent at $0.92 by the time the Dublin market closed.