Market report:The Irish market continued its climb yesterday, rising for the fourth day and adding another €1.5 billion back on to its value.

As usual there was little local news to boost sentiment, but the impact of calmer global markets, fuelled by hope that the US Federal Reserve will cut its lending rate, filtered through and the Iseq index of Irish shares ended the day up 1.5 per cent, at 8,310.

On the whole, it was a day for the second liners, with building materials groups Grafton and Kingspan performing well.

Grafton added 4.3 per cent, or 40 cents, to close at €9.80, a move dealers attributed to the re-emergence of an old rumour that Grafton may be the subject of a management buyout. One trader reported significant interest in the stock from hedge funds.

Kingspan, meanwhile, gained 4.9 per cent, or 77 cents, to close at €16.57. This stock has missed out on some of the gains recently and dealers said it was now playing catch up.

Elsewhere, Independent News & Media (IN&M) was busy, with three million shares changing hands. The stock added 3.2 per cent, or 10 cents, to close at €3.22, a move one dealer said was likely a follow through from rumours on Tuesday that Denis O'Brien had been back in the market buying up shares.

IN&M itself said it had bought back 500,000 shares at a total cost of at least €1.6 million.

Dealers reported Ryanair being under pressure, with the presence of a significant seller in the market. The shares, however, managed to hold their own, ending the day up 1.2 per cent, or 6 cents, at €5.12.

Meanwhile Prime Active Capital, formerly Oakhill, rose 5.3 per cent, or 8 cents, to €1.60. The company said in a statement that AIB and its subsidiaries now held 1.8 million shares, or 8.1 per cent, of its share capital.