Financials lead the way bringing Iseq up by 2.5%

Financials once again led the way up on the Dublin market today with the Iseq index of Irish shares up close to 2.5 per cent at 3,917.84 ahead of the close of business.

Dealers said that the day has largely been a good one, aided by signs of a rally in New York.

AIB, which spent the week lagging its peers, was the star performer, adding 11 per cent to ¤7.40. Home lender Irish Life & Permanent gained 6.4 per cent to ¤6.50.

Bank of Ireland slipped 3 per cent to ¤4.48. Dealers said that a number of international brokers issued notes today downgrading the stock. However, it showed some signs of recovery towards the close.

Outside of the financials, building materials giant, CRH, added 3.8 per cent to ¤15.56. There was a late push on construction-related stocks, but dealers said that the Irish group had outpeformed its global peers.

In London, the FTSE-100 index of leading shares closed up 109.91 at 4980.25, a gain of 2.2 per cent.

European markets made some of their strongest gains for weeks. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index, which measures leading shares in 18 western European bourses, added 2.8 per cent to 261.43, trimming this week's overall drop to 1.7 per cent. Today's gain was the biggest since September 19th.