The ongoing rebound of Bank of Ireland and a strong performance from Kerry shares have eased the Dublin market marginally into positive territory this afternoon.
At 12.28 the Iseq index was ahead 0.05 per cent at 5,581.
Bank of Ireland stock was ahead over 3.7 per cent at €7 and fellow financial Anglo Irish Bank was up 0.4 per cent at €7.17.
Analysts said the announcement by Britain's Financial Services Authority that it planned to introduce new rules for investors who bet on big share price falls has shored up banking stocks, particularly those with an exposure to the UK market.
HBOS shares were ahead over 13 per cent in London on the news.
Short-selling, or "shorting", is when investors borrow stock in a company and sell it in the hope of buying it back at a lower price later to return to the original owner - pocketing the difference as profit.
Also in positive territory, although without any sector-specific news, is Kerry Group which has seen its shares rise 3.8 per cent to €20.05 by the midway point.
Among the fallers today are airline stock Aer Lingus which this morning touched a 12-month low of €1.45 before recovering slightly to €1.45, a fall of 1.8 per cent in the day.
Building stocks McInerney and Grafton were both off today, falling by more than 1.5 per cent to €0.70 and €4.40 respectively. The sector was reacting to data from Euroconstruct which says Ireland will have one of the sharpest declines in building this year. It expects residential building here to be 45 per cent lower than in 2007.
European stocks fell this afternoon capping the worst two weeks for the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index since January, on concern inflation will force central banks to increase borrowing costs.
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG led European carmakers lower as Goldman Sachs downgraded the shares and cut its outlook on the industry on concern
consumer spending will weaken.
Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. tumbled 20 percent after reducing forecasts as rising food and fuel prices sapped demand.
Europe's Stoxx 600 lost 0.3 percent to 303.15 at 11.56am in London, bringing the two-week decline to 5.9 per cent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.1 per cent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.1 per cent. China's CSI 300 Index extended its weekly drop to 15 per cent.