IRISH and British shares have reached new trading peaks with the aid of Wall Street and strong British retail sales figures. In Dublin the ISEQ index of Irish shares added 22.52 points to 2475.12.

As well as Bank of Ireland's continued share price rise - up a further 10p to 450p - the main was a 6p rise by CRH to 577p. Smurfit rose 1p to 165p following the JS Corp results from the US. The next target for the Dublin market is the 2,500 level and a market capitalisation of £18 billion.

Monday's 60 point surge in the Dow Industrials index provided the early boost needed to push London's blue chip FTSE 100 index to a high of 3,824.5 points. The London market dipped as Wall Street fell after opening mixed, but rebounded to a new trading high as Wall Street turned higher. The FTSE 100 index closed 34.8 points higher at 3825,3 and, in Wall Street, the Dow Jones finished 27.10 points higher at 5,620.02.

British retail sales figures showing a year on year rise of 7.5 per cent in March also helped sentiment, as did continued take over speculation in the British utilities sector.

"Short term, the conditions for the market are quite good," BZW equity strategist Mr Richard Kersley said. "Britain has performed pretty badly relative to other markets and there is a suggestion that its now playing catch up.

A weaker dollar took the gloss off German shares after they also closed at a record on Monday, while Paris rebounded from early losses with the support of buoyant bonds.

"The dollar looked a bit wobbly this morning and that brought the market down a touch," a Hamburg dealer said about the German market, which closed floor trade with the DAX index down 7.56 points at 2,538.38. In computerised trade, the IBIS DAX index was trading by late afternoon at 2,547.95.

German traders said worries about the dollar's dip overnight and tomorrow's council meeting of the Bundesbank, was keeping investors cautious. Most dealers said they expected no change in German interest rates at the meeting, although a minority continue to anticipate a cut.

The dollar refused to bow to early pressure from the yen and deutschmark and, by late afternoon in Europe, it was looking firm. The US currency showed little reaction to a fall in US industrial output, which was largely in line with expectations.