Market Report: Excitement was thin on the ground yesterday, with most stocks struggling to achieve even reasonable volume in advance of the Easter holiday.

Settlement Day: April 17th

Dealers said investors were reluctant to act before the market found its post-war direction, adding that the raft of earnings updates due to be issued by bellweather US companies such as IBM and Intel this week would be closely watched.

Both the main banks ticked up slightly as the overall market gained 0.5 per cent, with Bank of Ireland adding four cents to close at 10.14 and AIB finishing seven cents higher at 13.12. Anglo Irish Bank was up two cents at 6.55, while Irish Life & Permanent gained six cents to reach €9.80.

First Active suffered in the wake of revelations about defaulting borrowers, losing 10 cents to close at €4.90 as just slightly more than 50,000 shares changed hands.

Outside the financials, CRH ended 12 cents higher at 13.29, while Ryanair gained four cents to close at 6.65. Neither stock managed volume of any more than 600,000 shares.

Among the "special-situation" stocks, Readymix closed five cents higher at 1.60 as its future remains unclear.

Arnotts, in an equally uncertain position, gained 10 cents to end at 12.60 in extremely low volume.

Elsewhere, Paddy Power displayed renewed resilience after last week's profit warning from Stanley Leisure by adding 15 cents to finish at 5.55. Gresham closed four cents higher at 74 cents as trade was boosted by news of share purchases by incoming chairman, Mr Harvey Soning.