The negligible change in the ISEQ Index was a perfect indication of the absence of activity and direction on the Irish market, and it looks like it will take some major development in overseas markets to give Irish shares any stimulus.

One of the few highlights was the continued strength of Ryanair ahead of next Friday's full-year results with the share remaining well-bid at €8.90 (£7.01). There is a surprising variation in forecasts from some of the Dublin broking houses, with company broker Davy expecting pre-tax profits of €74.8 million and earnings per share of 33.5 cents. NCB, however, is much more cautious with a profit forecast of €60.3 million and earnings per share of 27.8 cents.

Price changes among the leaders were negligible, with AIB five cents easier on €13.70 (£10.79) while Bank of Ireland was unchanged on €18.60 (£14.65). Reports that Salomon has gone negative on CRH, cutting its price target from €19 to €16 and cutting its recommendation from "outperform" to "neutral" had little impact on the shares which drifted 14 cents lower to €17.70 (£13.94).

But the Dublin market could not fathom the Salomon view on CRH, as there seems to be a broad consensus that the shares, while trading at a sizeable premium to the sector, are unlikely to weaken to anything like the extent forecast by Salomon. Only last week, another investment house, Morgan Stanley adopted the opposite approach, with a €20.00 target for the CRH share price.

Elsewhere, Golden Vale - which has given its milk suppliers a 2p-a-gallon increase, lost five cents to €1.00 (79p), ITG jumped 17 cents to €5.35 (£4.21), while Heiton did not trade despite the disclosure from Grafton that it has lifted its stake in Heiton over 10 per cent.