More profit-taking in CRH prevented the Irish stock market notching up anything more than nominal gains in very thin trading and the half-day session today and the sole one-day session next week is unlikely to see anything more than some last-minute tidying-up of institutional portfolios.

With another 50p fall to £11.20 yesterday, CRH has now dropped 11 per cent since it snapped up a majority stake in Ibstock. Dealers said that this mainly involved selling by overseas institutions and Irish small investors, but that £11.20 seems to be a floor for the shares with bid interest at that closing level.

The other leading shares were mixed with AIB up 28p to £11.83 while Bank of Ireland drifted 20p lower to £14.40 after a perky opening which saw the shares rise as high as £14.75. Anglo Irish was the best performer of the day with a 7p rise to 190p despite the disclosure by M&G that it has sold two million shares, taking its stake to 4.8 per cent.

First Active dealt up 10p to 350p, Fyffes was 2p lower on 140p with the £40 million investment in Capespan coming too late to have any impact on the shares. Elsewhere Ryanair jumped 45p to 450p in a response to recent gains by the shares on Nasdaq. Ryanair as firmer once again on Nasdaq and was trading $1 1/8 higher on $35 1/2 as the Irish market closed. Independent gained 5p to 270p as finance director Mr Jim Parkinson bought almost 67,000 shares at an option price of 120 1/2p.

The strong opening on Wall Street saw a number of Irish stocks make solid gains, with Iona, Elan and Saville all trading higher, Saville on the back of a "buy" recommendation from Lehman Brothers. Iona was on $36 3/4, Elan on $65 and Saville on $18 at the Irish close.