MARKET REPORT:Irish Continental Group (ICG) was the talk of the Irish market yesterday after chief executive Eamonn Rothwell announced he had bought 1.75 million shares, equal to 7.4 per cent of the share capital, at a price of €22 each.

The stock jumped 4.6 per cent, or €1, to €23 on the news, which means he is prepared to increase his offer for the ferry group to this level. In conjunction with other members of management, Mr Rothwell had previously offered €18.50 a share for the group, an offer which was trumped by a rival bid of €22.

Heavy trading in the stock followed the announcement, with 2.7 million units changing hands in total. It was unclear, however, whether the buyers were hedge funds or if the rival consortium had also been increasing its stake.

Elsewhere, dealers were kept busy with decent volumes in several other stocks, including Anglo, which ended down just 7 cent at €15.93, despite 6.5 million units changing hands.

Boosted by the heavy trading the Iseq index of Irish shares moved ahead in line with its European peers, closing up 68.99 at 9,965.25, its highest closing price in more than two weeks.

It was a good day too for CRH, which climbed as high as €38.19 before falling back to close up 3.2 per cent, or €1.16, at €37.65.

Dealers attributed the gains to talk of a possible private equity bid for part of the group.

Another positive story was Tullow Oil, which added to the gains it made on Monday on the back of news it had found oil in Ghana. Yesterday the shares closed up 12.5 per cent, or 83 cent, at €7.45. Volume in Dublin was light, however, with more activity in London, where the shares jumped almost 13 per cent, to £5.04. Dealers attributed the renewed gains to a positive note from Merrill Lynch, which raised Tullow's price target to £5.60.