The Dublin market remained buoyant yesterday, but in line with other European markets lost some of its gains in the afternoon when Wall Street made an indecisive start. Reflecting this the overall ISEQ index fell by almost half a per cent, with financials and general stocks falling by the same amount.

Demand for first liners was relatively steady, although AIB dropped slightly from 1025p to 1007p.

Bank of Ireland, in average volumes, rose from 1295p to 1305p, while Irish Life which has been rising dramatically since its merger talks with Irish Permanent were confirmed, stayed unchanged at 540p.

The stock exchange was informed yesterday that Davys and AIB Investment Managers have been among the recent buyers of Irish Life stock.

Anglo Irish Bank, which announces its results next week, found itself dropping back from 180p to 178p. Smurfit experienced a small rise, from 125p to 129p. Dealers said the shares have been in "recovery mode" for some time and there is relief that the deal with Stone Container is about to finally happen.

"While there is no shortage of reservations about the deal, the markets still expect to see a bigger and more powerful player emerge from the alliance," said a dealer.

The main losers on the day were Arnotts, which shed 35p to close at 525p and Ryanair which was down 15p to 385p. Two exploration companies, Tuskar Resources and Celtic Resources, were down sharply.

Celtic Resources, which has been seriously affected by the turmoil in Russia, slid down from 5p to 2p. In contrast the troubled Bula Resources, was up from 0.8p to 1p.

Moving up was Adare Printing from 625p to 650p and CRH, which rose from 1011p to 1015p.