It was the turn of exploration minnow Ovoca to be the darling of the punters on the Dublin market yesterday as the shares rose sharply ahead of a drilling programme beginning on Monday at its lead/zinc prospect at Newcastle West, Co Limerick. Active trading saw Ovoca close up 16 3/4 cents to the sterling equivalent of 53 3/4 cents, while in London the shares were 12p higher on 32 1/2p sterling.

The other main punter stock, Bula, was the focus of some profit-taking after the recent big gains, the shares closing 1 1/8 cents lower on 9 3/4

cents (in London, they were 1/2p lower on 6p sterling). Bula, however, is likely to remain the focus of punter interest until it emerges whether there is any substance behind recent rumours of a Libyan oil and gas find. The leaders were mixed. Among the banks, AIB was 15 cents lower on €11, while even its inclusion on ABN Amro's European banks buy list could not stop Bank of Ireland drifting two cents lower to €7.65. Industrials were better bid, and CRH recovered from Thursday's profit-taking to close 55 cents higher on €21.75.

Eircom was 2 3/4 cents lower on €4.10, while Smurfit was unchanged but drawing bid interest on €3.20. Fyffes remained in demand but drifted three cents to €2.55, with dealers still focusing on the potential of the group's worldoffruit.com Internet trading site for the fresh produce industry. Irish Continental was 50 cents higher on €11.

Among the techie shares, Baltimore performed exceptionally well, dealing up over £5 to £54.78 in London and hitting a high of $92 5/8 on Nasdaq before easing back to around $90 as the Irish market closed, up $63 /4 on the day. Smartforce was also in demand on the Nasdaq, trading up $23/8 on $33 1/4 as Dublin closed.