Independent Newspapers was the main feature on an otherwise lacklustre day on the Irish stock market.

Shares in the newspaper group fell by 17 cents, or nearly 10 per cent, to €1.55, in reasonably heavy volume before recovering in late trade to close at €1.65. Concerns about its strategy in Australia and worries about falling advertising revenue in the media sector generally were held responsible for the fall.

"People seem to be exiting the stock. Some people don't like what they are doing in Australia. It seems to be incredibly complicated," one trader said.

Otherwise, Irish stocks had a dull day with overseas markets providing little direction. As a result, the ISEQ ended barely changed, just less than five points higher.

Leading stocks were steady to weaker with AIB unchanged at €10.60, Bank of Ireland off six cents at €9.70 and Irish Life & Permanent one cent weaker at €11.82.

In the wake of Thursday's profit warning, CRH fell a further 11 cents, on top of the previous day's drop of €1.16, to close at €15.96.

By contrast, Elan gained 30 cents to close at €51.50 while Ryanair, which is due to release half-year results on Monday, was up two cents at €10.20.

Shares in Bula Resources were unchanged after the company placed 69 million shares to raise more than €1 million.

The technology sector was generally firmer with Riverdeep up 15 cents at €3.50, Iona gaining 95 cents to €13.50 and and Horizon adding six cents to €0.78.