MARKET REPORT - DUBLIN

THE Irish market was marked down yesterday after poor employment figures from the US unsettled international sentiment.

May non farm payrolls rose by 348,000, much higher than forecasts of a 165,000 increase.

Bonds also had a nervous day, but for the first time this week the Irish market saw net buying with some international interest.

"We have learned not to panic after the non farm payroll figures," one trader said. "The last few times markets have bounced back after the initial panic."

However, he added that if the British market opens lower on Monday, it could lead to a wave of selling in Dublin. The FTSE 100 closed 53.5 points lower yesterday, the largest fall since June last year. By the close of trade in Dublin, the Dow Jones was down 58 points.

Financials suffered in line with the sell off in bond markets. Bank of Ireland fell 2p to 444p, while AIB closed 8p lower at 332p. Irish Permanent lost 1p to close at 382p.

CRH and Greencore both held flat as investors were reluctant to sell. Greencore's results on Thursday underpinned its share price while there were few sellers of CRH. CRH remained at 613p while Greencore stayed put at 320p.

Smurfit was down 5p to 164p. Traders pointed to its US links.

Sentiment in the Irish bond market was very poor and it marginally underperformed the British and German markets again.

The benchmark 10 year closed down at 101.20p to yield 7.67 per cent from 7.55 per cent the day before. The benchmark due 2001 fell to 97.20p to yield 7.03 per cent from 6.92 per cent.