1.   Sybase has seen its sales growth slow amid heavy competition from rivals Oracle Corp., Informix Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

2.   Trading was also slow amid concern the dollar may continue falling against the yen.

3.   Trading was slow amid a lack of major market-affecting news, they said.

4.   Trading was slow amid a lack of fresh market-affecting news, Yamaguchi said.

5.   However, implementation of the accord has been extremely slow amid frequent ceasefire violations by both sides.

6.   Progress on all fronts, however, has been slow amid a national and global economic slowdown.