The stock market gained more than half a percentage point yesterday as international equity markets moved back into positive territory.
Settlement Date: June 25th
It was helped by a better performance from financials after Thursday's weakness. AIB gained 19 cents to €13.04, Bank of Ireland edged up by five cents to 10.60 and Anglo Irish Bank gained eight cents to 7.82.
Dealers said that Bank of Ireland did not buy back any stock yesterday but AIB was believed to again have been active in the market as more than 5.5 million shares were traded. Both banks purchased shares on Thursday, with AIB buying 1.8 million at an average price of €12.97 while Bank of Ireland bought 500,000 shares at €10.575 each.
Irish Life & Permanent, which is due to release a trading statement on Tuesday, was broadly unchanged, closing one cent lower at 9.89.
Elsewhere on the market, volumes were light and many stocks ended the day unchanged.
Ryanair, whose employees' share options vest at the end of the month, closed one cent higher at 5.96, while CRH finished flat at 13.90 in light trade.
However, a number of secondline stocks made solid gains including Kerry Group, which gained 25 cents to 13.65, Irish Continental Group, which closed 20 cents higher at 8.30 and Jurys Doyle, which added 10 cents to 8.45.
Arcon shares were barely changed at €0.029 as shareholders at the annual meeting were told that the discovery late last year of a new high-grade area of mineralisation at the Galmoy Mine would extend the mine's life into the next decade.
