Good demand for the bigger financial stocks was the main factor behind yesterday's solid performance. But the best performance of the day and the most heavily traded stock was Glanbia which jumped eight cents to €0.90 in something of a delayed reaction to the Kerry proposed offer for Golden Vale.

More than 3.7 million Glanbia shares traded in Dublin and that is exceptionally heavy trading in an illiquid stock where 54 per cent of the shares are held by the co-op.

The closing price of €0.90 puts Glanbia on a historic p/e of 7.8, slightly less than the valuation Kerry's proposed €1.37-a-share-offer puts on Golden Vale. The latter was one cent firmer on €1.47, while Kerry drifted six cents to €13.33, a price that now values Golden Vale shares at €1.333. Analysts have been saying for some time that food stocks are due a re-rating and the Kerry move by Golden Vale may finally have triggered that re-rating.

Financial shares were generally firmer and traded in solid volumes. AIB was 25 cents higher on €13.00, Bank of Ireland gained 10 cents to €10.87, although Anglo Irish and Irish Life were both marginally weaker. CRH drifted five cents lower on €20.60 - the American investment group Capital has disclosed that it has recently sold almost 570,000 CRH shares to take its stake from 6.04 per cent to 5.91 per cent. A decision on CRH's bid for a 25 per cent stake in Egyptian group Suez Cement is expected by the end of the week.

Elsewhere, Smurfit drifted two cents to €2.12 with 2.2 million shares trading, Jurys gained 29 cents to €9.50, while Greencore gained seven cents to €2.59. On overseas markets, Icon was the best of the Irish stocks and by midday on Nasdaq was more than 12 per cent higher on $32.90.