MORE strong demand for the financial shares drove the Irish market to new highs yesterday and there seems nothing to prevent the Irish market driving towards the 3500 level for the ISEQ over the next few days.

AIB and Bank of Ireland continued their ding-dong for the number one position in the market and Bank of Ireland regained pole position with an 18p gain to 775p while AIB had a more modest 11p gain to 554p.

Today, AIB will probably announce how Daiiphin Deposit shareholders have opted to take their payments for their shares.

The betting is that the split of the Pounds 840 million takeover price will be roughly 60-40 in favour of AIB shares, which Dauphin share-holders will receive in the form of ADR's. If the split is 60-40, then about 105 million ADR's will be issued with the balance being paid by AIB's First Maryland subsidiary in the form of cash.

Other financials also benefited from the positive tone - aided by the response to the Woolwich flotation in London. Irish Life was 8p higher on 348p, while Irish Permanent and Woodchester were both 2p higher on 632p and 292p respectively.

Industrials were generally quiet. Smurfit dealt actively without going anywhere and closed unchanged on 193p, while CRH was 3p easier on 697p.

Meanwhile, Independent notched up a milestone as it broke through the Pounds 1 billion market capitalisation with a 5p gain to 405p.

Boxmore was 9 1/2p higher on 292p, while Fishers was unchanged on 19 3/4p as the Farrell and ATA acquisitions were approved. This will boost Fishers's shares in issue by about 10 per cent to 122 million shares, valuing Fishers at just over Pounds 24 million.