European stockmarkets look set for another strong opening this morning, after New York stormed ahead last night. The Dow Jones index of US shares ended up 201.28 points at 8,107.78, encouraged by buoyancy in the pharmaceutical sector and the strong gains in the Far East overnight. Major stocks led the late rise on Wall Street, with the end of the season for corporate earnings reports also lessening investors fears that some nasty surprises could be in the offing. In Europe earlier, the merger mania in the pharmaceuticals sector in the wake on the SmithKline Beecham/Glaxo announcement and the extraordinary turnaround on Far Eastern stock markets were the main factors driving the Irish market to yet another new high.At the close the ISEQ Overall Index was up over 2 per cent and the index was up over 91 points on 4466.50. The surge in the market means that over £800 million was added to the value of the Irish market, bringing total market capitalisation of Irish plc's to over £40 billionThere was broad-based demand for Irish stocks, but the major financial shares were in particular demand - particularly from overseas investors keen on an exposure to the Irish economy. The fact that British banking shares went through the roof in the wake of the 14 per cent recovery in Hong Kong was another factor behind the demand for the financials. The value of Irish financial shares rose by almost 3.5 per cent, with Bank of Ireland up an extraordinary 53p to a new high of £11.85 while Allied Irish Banks jumped 25p to 800p.The merger mania in the pharmaceutical sector resulting from the SmithKline Beecham/Glaxo merger announcement found its way through to the two pharmaceutical shares listed on the Irish market, Elan and Galen.While these two companies are seen more as pharmaceutical development companies than drugs companies, the spillover from the SKB/Glaxo announcement drove their share prices ahead.