Banks fare poorly as CRH checked

THE Irish market reflected European markets

AIB was down 0.64% to €12.40, and Bank of Ireland fell 1.43% to €10.33 despite announcing it bought back 325,000 shares at an average of €10.39.

CRH was static at €14.40 after four straight gains as ready-mix concrete giant RMC Plc said it was 'cautious' about the outlook for 2003. Elan rose 4.52% to €5.32 after Nitto Denko Corp, the world's largest maker of optical film for lcds, said it will buy a unit of Elan for €45m.