MARKET REPORT:LEADING IRISH stocks surrendered some more ground yesterday, dragged down by poorly performing financials in London and Europe.

Dealers said that trade was soft. Most stocks performed in line with the market, but a number slipped back more sharply.

The market slowed more markedly towards the end of the day, meaning that most shares closed at the bottom of the range in which they had traded.

One of the day's biggest losers was mortgage lender and bank Irish Life & Permanent, which dropped 56.5 cent to close at €12.04, a fall of some 4.5 per cent.

More than one million shares were traded in the financial institution on the Dublin market yesterday.

Corporate bank, Anglo Irish, which suffered earlier in the week was more solid, trading at above €8 all day. It closed at €8.01, a fall of four cent, or half a per cent.

Volumes were large, with 4.34 million shares in the bank changing hands in Dublin.

AIB dropped 26 cent to €13.68, a fall of 1.87 per cent, on trades of around 750,000, which was particularly light.

A similar amount of units were traded in Bank of Ireland, which shed seven cent to close at €9.40.

Elsewhere, food group Kerry gave up ground, dropping 30 cent to close at €19.60. Investors sold more than 300,000 shares in the company.

Another food stock, Greencore, had a contrasting day, gaining eight cent to close at €4.03, a 2 per cent gain.

Construction-related shares continued to suffer. Housebuilder McInerney dropped 7 cent to close at €1.12, a fall of almost 6 per cent. CRH dipped 18 cent to €24.29.

Ryanair's share price fell following a rise in oil prices. It dropped 8.5 cent to €2.845, a fall of almost 3 per cent.

FTSE 100: 5,983.90 (-6.30)

Settlement date: April 14th