AIB was described by brokers as “the biggest game in town” today.
A report in The Irish Timestoday that a major Canadian bank had made a conditional approach to AIB "set the ball rolling" as soon as the Dublin market opened, according to one broker. After spiking to €2.40 during the morning session, the stock drifted back slightly. However, a statement issued by AIB this afternoon confirming that it had received "interest from a third party" saw the stock shoot upwards again.
Although it flagged a little into the close, AIB ended the day up over 6 per cent - 13 cent - at €2.23.
All the financials rode on the coattails of this development, with Bank of Ireland up more than 3.5 per cent - over 7 cent - at just under €2.14. Irish Life & Permanent gained 5.5 per cent, closing just under €3.95.
Although activity in the banking sector was the dominant feature of the day, Smurfit Kappa also put in a very strong performance. The packaging giant closed at €5.17, up 34 cent on the back of price increases coming through in its industry.
Overall, the Dublin market was in "pretty good shape" until disappointing consumer confidence data released in the US saw it reverse fairly sharply, brokers noted. However the Iseq index had recovered by the end of the session to close more or less flat at 2,951.05, a relatively good performance on a day when European shares in general retreated about 1.5 per cent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 were down between 0.8 and 1.7 per cent. US stocks were also down sharply.
(Additional reporting - Reuters)