THE weaker tone in London and Wall Street's inability to push ahead gave investors in the Irish market an excuse to take some profits from a market which had reached an all time high in Thursday trading. Dealers still believe that the ISEQ can push beyond the 2300 level next week, unless international markets weaken further.

There were few features in a dull day's trading, with a general weakening across the board. Among the financials, AIB was 2p easier on 354p, Bank of Ireland lost 4p to 464p while Irish Life came back off its high and closed 1p easier on 250p. Irish Permanent was the only one of the financials to buck the downward trend, closing 3p higher on 393p.

Smurfit, which has had a good start to the year, came back 3p to 157p as JS Corp went easier on Wall Street. CRH lost 3p to 473p, Greencore was unchanged on 540p as was Kerry on 485p.