European shares jumped by midday to add to a record percentage rise a day earlier, with investors scooping up energy and bank stocks after measures by governments to end the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
By 12.16pm, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 5.5 per cent at 988.79 points, adding to a more than 10 per cent rally yesterday.
In Dublin the Iseq index of Irish shares was up over 6 per cent just after 1pm with Irish Life and Permanent rising almost 22 per cent and Anglo Irish Bank up over 13 per cent .
In Europe, banking stocks were among the top-weighted gainers on the index, while commodity shares also advanced, helped by improved market sentiment and a jump in crude and metals prices.
Barclays surged 12.5 per cent, UBS added 9 per cent, and Standard Chartered and Societe Generale both rose 8.6 per cent.
"The risk of a possible systemic failure of the global banking system has dramatically reduced as political and financial authorities around the world work in a coordinated way to restore confidence to improve liquidity," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Stockbrokers.
"That allowed investors to sail on calmer waters in the course of the trading sessions yesterday and today ... (but) there is still a longer-term discussion about the practical implications of the credit crunch."
The interbank cost of borrowing three-month dollars had its biggest fall since March, and three-month euro rates the biggest fall this year today.
The market also got support from news that the United States will announce plans on Tuesday to inject $250 billion into its banks and mark a turning point in the global financial crisis, following a concerted European drive to do the same.
The US Treasury is due to unveil its plan at 1.30pm, with about half of the total figure likely to go to the top nine US banks alone to get them lending to each other again, people familiar with the plan said.
US stocks posted double-digit percentage gains overnight, and Asian equity markets rallied strongly on Tuesday. Tokyo's Nikkei soared over 14 per cent, its biggest one-day gain ever.
"Risk appetite of global investors is increasing gradually," Germany's Commerzbank said in a note.
Agencies