Fears of an opening slide in the Dow Jones Industrial Average proved unfounded yesterday and markets around Europe recovered their positions after a bout of nerves. A surprise profit warning from US computer giant Compaq on Friday was the catalyst for apprehension on Wall Street.

However, by yesterday afternoon traders there had shrugged off the Compaq statement as reflecting largely company-specific problems. The more upbeat mood in New York prompted money to flow into Dublin markets, said dealers.

"While the ISEQ fell back a small bit, it was nothing like the prophets of doom had predicted when dealing started this morning," said a dealer. Despite a flurry of buying in the afternoon, most leading stocks dropped back. AIB, in low volumes of trade, finished down 5 cents (4p) at €15.70 (£12.36), while Bank of Ireland, also in a low volume trade, was down 5 cents (4p) at €19.30 (£15.20).

"The banks were a little weak today so this acted as a drag on most of the market," said a dealer.

One of the few rising stocks on the day was Smurfit, up from €1.84 (£1.45) to €1.90 (£1.50) ahead of the release of its annual results today. Dealers said the positive sentiment towards the stock was not based on the profit figures, but on the optimistic comments likely to be made about worldwide packaging prices by chairman Dr Michael Smurfit in his statement.

"While the profit increases will be modest, prices are picking up because capacity has been taken out and that should bode well for the future," said a dealer.

There was a strong rise in the share price of building products group, Kingspan, from €2.40 (£1.89) to €2.45 (£1.93) after an announcement that its former director, Mr Brendan Murtagh, had sold 12.8 million shares for about £23 million. Dealers expressed surprise at the amount of shares sold by Mr Murtagh and the sale's timing. "There is no doubt the share price has been depressed of late and there was signs of a recovery," said one dealer.