Bank of Ireland was once again the focus of huge trading on both Dublin and London markets yesterday. It is understood that a single block trade of eight million shares went through the Dublin market. Inevitably, the size of the trade led to speculation that the seller may have been the US fund which unloaded 18 million shares through Warburg on the London market last week. But the fact that yesterday's big trade was on the Dublin market through NCB led some to the view that there were different parties involved.

That said, most of the big Dublin broking houses have been trying to find out the identity of the big London seller to see if it had any unfinished Bank of Ireland business to conduct. As a result, it cannot be totally discounted that the seller last week through Warburg and yesterday through NCB is the same.

It is a reflection of the strength of demand for Bank of Ireland shares that a block trade of eight million shares can go through the market without hitting the share price. B of I closed up three cents on €12.55, after trading as high as $12.67. In line with the sector across Europe, there was demand for the other banks as well with AIB up 18 cents to €14.58, while Anglo Irish hit another new high with a six-cent gain to €5.89 as Davy hiked its 12-month price target for Anglo shares to €6.75.

Biggest trading in industrials was in Smurfit where more than five million shares traded as it lost four cents to €2.59. The likelihood of a sale of Smurfit Stone seems to have increased with analysts interpreting conference call comments from Smurfit Stone as effectively ruling out a merger. Fyffes and Glanbia both traded in size and closed ahead slightly, while McInerney dropped two cents to €2.17 as Standard Life disclosed further selling of the stock. Standard has disclosed that it has sold a million shares in the past week to take its stake from 8,9 per cent to 5.6 per cent.