The overnight surge on Wall Street provided the perfect backdrop for another good day on the Irish market, with prices moving solidly in good-sized trading. The positive response in London also supported the gains in Dublin, and most shares closed reasonably well-bid at the close. The financials notched up the best gains, with Bank of Ireland jumping 13p to 778p, while AIB was 5p firmer on 665p. Irish Life jumped 10p to 342p ahead of half-year results today which are expected to show a solid if unspectacular performance in the half-year.

Irish Permanent was 3p higher on 607p, while New Ireland jumped 350p to 1950p, indicating the sort of price that a successful bidder might have to pay. Good news for majority shareholder UAP and the minority shareholders, but many in the market believe that £210 million is an over-the-top price for New Ireland.

Among the industrials, CRH gained 9p to 724p - boosted by its latest acquisition in the US and support from the British building materials sector - while Smurfit was almost 3p firmer on 219p. Dunloe House was relisted and dealt up 3 1/2p to 23 1/2p from the 20p placing price of the new shares. At this level, Dunloe is valued at £53.4 million compared to the £28.3 million valuation prior to the Cradder deals.

European Leisure was 18p higher on 150p after its good interim figures, Gaelic continued to benefit from its European Hydrocarbons deal and was 3/8p higher on 2 5/8p, while Independent - after heavy dealing on Tuesday - was 15p weaker on 385p.

After the frenetic trading following Tuesday's auction, the gilt market took a breather and prices were broadly unchanged.