Expectations of strong growth from Irish Permanent and AIB when they report full-year results today and tomorrow was the deriving force behind another strong day on the Irish market with the ISEQ notching up another new high.

The market was also supported by gains by the British banks on the back of renewed take-over speculation in the UK.

Irish Permanent, which is expected to report at least 12 per cent profit growth to £54 million today, was the best performer with a 20p gain to 965p - a level that puts the share on quite a hefty and, many say, an unjustified premium to the other Irish banks.

AIB which reports results tomorrow was also strong, gaining 17p to 857p. Other financials also benefited from the positive sentiment, with Anglo Irish up 3p to 165p, Bank of Ireland 10p higher on £12.35 and Irish Life up 7p to 530p.

Leading industrials also moved ahead with Smurfit 4p stronger on 200p - the group has denied reports in a Finnish newspaper that it plans to bid for the remaining 68 per cent of Swedish packaging group Munskjo after increasing its stake last week.

CRH was 5p higher on 860p and is now trading on a hefty premium to the UK building materials sector, although the shares are trading in line with the European peer group. Avonmore Waterford saw some overseas buying interest and closed up 5p on a new 325p high.

Greencore, however, saw some sizeable overseas selling and fell as low as 358p before closing down 4 3/8 p on 365 5/8p. The shares were, however, on offer at the close at 365p and it will take some acquisition news to restore investor interest. The shares are currently trading 15p below the 380p buyback price.

Elsewhere, McInerney was unchanged on 105p as the group disclosed that founder and nonexecutive director Dan McInerney has recently sold 240,000 shares to take his stake down to 7.13 per cent. Independent recovered from some early selling to close unchanged on 460p, Waterford Wedgwood was 2 1/2p higher on 107 1/2p, while Ryanair benefited from the strength of the share in New York on Friday evening and closed up 15p on a new high of 425p.

Ulster Television was 3 1/2p lower on 238 1/2p sterling - 12 per cent shareholder Canwest has denied that it has bought the 18 per cent of UTV held by Scottish Media, although such a move would come as no surprise to the market.