The Irish market rode on the coattails of international exchanges today which jumped in anticipation of further quantitative easing action in the US.
The Iseq index ended the session 0.75 per cent higher at just over 2,729. This did not reflect the strong performance across the market, however, as the Iseq was constrained by a lacklustre result its main constituent CRH, which added just three cent to close at €12.25.
The banks found themselves in favour after international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's suggested yesterday that the Irish economy has turned a corner. AIB rose more than 3 per cent, or just over one cent, to 43 cent, while Bank of Ireland added 3.7 per cent to finish at 64.5 cent.
There was little reaction to the announcement that a merger between Irish Life & Permanent and EBS building society may be on the cards. IL&P was marginally better at €1.60, having traded at around €1.58 for the last few days.
In the airline sector, Aer Lingus enjoyed an initial boost after releasing a positive trading statement, but support for the stock evaporated over the afternoon. It ended the day in negative territory, down more than 1 per cent, or 1.5 cent, at €1.13 cent. Brokers attributed the dip to profit-taking.
Elswhere, C&C enjoyed a very strong day. The drinks manufacturer had sold off in the lead-up to the release of its results on Tuesday. However the stock recovered well today, gaining almost 5 per cent to close at €3.28.
Building materials group Readymix soared by more than 40 per cent after announcing it is in takeover talks. However the stock is trading at such low levels that this represented a gain of just seven cent and it closed at 24 cent, and one broker cautioned that the stock is "very small in the greater scheme of things".
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 1.2 per cent higher, Germany's DAX was up 1.4 per cent and France's CAC 40 rose 1.5 per cent.
Additional reporting - Reuters