Market Report: Dublin enjoyed a relatively busy end to the week with the index closing 21 points or 0.4 per cent ahead on the day. Business was up on recent days and dealers expect that, after Monday's British bank holiday, the market will begin to return to normal levels of trading.

The banks led the way yesterday, challenging recent ceilings. AIB traded up to €12.99 before ending the session a cent ahead on €12.97.

Bank of Ireland broke through the €11 barrier for a time before settling for a five cent gain on €11. Volume was light in the smaller banks. Anglo Irish Bank bucked the trend on the day, surrendering five cents as it moved back to €13.50 but Irish Life & Permanent ended a good week on €12.35, up five cents, having touched €12.40 earlier in the session.

Elsewhere, Eircom started the day with a rush, hitting €1.51 before lunch following the release of quarterly figures to the market. Traders described the numbers as "decent" rather than "anything outstanding" and the stock gave up some of its gains later in the day to close on €1.49, up three cents.

C&C, the other recent arrival on the market, was also in demand with more than 1.5 million shares changing hands. Dealers said there was good two-way trade around the €2.50 mark and the shares closed seven cents stronger on €2.52, making back some of the ground it lost following muted figures earlier this week.

Ryanair went the other way following its surge on Thursday. The airline was five cents weaker on €4.35 but still well ahead of the €4.15 it was trading at on Monday.

Independent News & Media got a boost from circulation figures that were seen in the market as positive. The stock added two cents to €2.03 in reasonable volume.

Kingspan may not have seen much stock traded but it was in demand with plenty of buyers around to push it up 19 cents or nearly 4 per cent to €5.05 on the day.