The Irish stock exchange managed to outperform European markets today on strong performances across the financial sector to close up at 2748.52.
Financial stocks continued to make solid gains throughout the day bolstered by the impending establishment of the National Asset Management Agency, according to one broker.
The Bank of Ireland attracted strong buyer interest spiking 7.26 per cent to close at €1.61, while Allied Irish Banks jumped 4.75 per cent to end the days trading at €1.345.
Irish Life and Permanent also had a strong day, closing at €3.29, a healthy increase of 9.66 per cent.
Ryanair largely outperformed UK airline stocks and jumped 7.99 per cent to €3.554. Food stock Kerry Group, enjoyed an overall improved market sentiment, which saw the stock rise 2.99 per cent to €16.84. However, Greencore Group produced a relatively flat performance rising slightly to close at €1.05.
Meanwhile, C&C increased 3.35 per cent to end the day at €2.28, while Smurfit Kappa did well with investors chasing beta market performance, one broker said. The stock gained steadily throughout the day peaking in lunchtime trading at €4.23 but eventually fell back slightly to close at €4.08, a jump of 8.51 per cent from the previous day's trading.
Grafton Group bounced 6.03 per cent to €2.81, and Kingspan Group ended the day at €4.86, an increase of 3.40 per cent. Tullow Oil enjoyed solid buyer interest by closing up 2.19 per cent to finish at €11.39.
Elsewhere, market heavy weight CRH lagged the market falling steadily throughout the day to finish down 2.11 per cent at €17.57. Paddy Power failed to gain much market attention ending the day at €17.20, a minor rise of 0.29 per cent.