Continued losses on Wall Street and a weak performance in London failed to stop the Irish market moving ahead steadily, with most of the gains being notched up by the financial shares.

Wall Street also caused further uneasiness in London when US trading began yesterday. The Dow slipped by around 20 points in early trading. But dealers in London were not disheartened by the day's events, with some pointing out that all the main FTSE indices remained within striking distance of their all-time closing and intra-day highs.