Dublin report:Dublin remained relatively flat yesterday, a lull that most dealers explained as deriving from caution while awaiting a decision this week on US interest rates.

"The Fed is meeting on Wednesday and we are all waiting to see if they will cut rates, or by how much they will cut rates," said one trader.

"We're all basically just following their lead."

The Dublin market was up a little earlier in the day but then began to drift.

As is always the case in such muted markets, relatively small trades had the capacity to make disproportionately large impacts on a share's price, so traders warned that little or nothing should be read into share price movements on a day of such lacklustre trading.

Ryanair ended down 3.48 per cent, at €5.485, while Aer Lingus barely traded at all. One trader said the movements in the share prices of these companies could be attributed to oil prices, but then again, the high price of oil has been in the news for some time.

Ryanair will give its half-year results next Monday. There is a lot of speculation as to how the company will perform, but traders yesterday were expecting the company would once again come out with good numbers and a cautious outlook statement.

Otherwise, there is little by way of Irish market news scheduled to appear in the coming period.

In the banking sector, Anglo Irish finished at €11.47, 0.8 per cent down, Bank of Ireland closed at €12.32, 0.57 per cent down, while AIB fell 0.46 per cent to €16.82.

Aminex jumped 7.35 per cent on the day to €0.37. Grafton dropped 1.27 per cent, to €7.75, while United Drug ended the day up 2 per cent at €3.52.