AIB highest climber among financials

Market Report:The banks put in a good performance on a positive day for the Iseq index of Irish shares, which moved up more than 1.5 per cent.

Among the financials, AIB made the highest climb in percentage terms, rising 62 cent or 3 per cent to €21.32, while Bank of Ireland rose more than 2 per cent to €15.93, up 34 cent.

Anglo Irish Bank added 24 cent to its share price, closing at €16.04.

There was strong volume in drinks group C&C, with more than five million shares trading in the stock as buyers anticipated an imminent share buyback programme.

The stock is now nearing the €12 mark once again, finishing the day at €11.93, up 15 cent.

Ryanair also had a busy day, with more than eight million shares changing hands, mostly at the €4.94 level.

The airline eventually closed down 2 cent at €4.93.

Good news in the pharmaceutical sector gave Elan a bit of a push in the US. In Dublin, the stock was the highest climber, up 5.5 per cent to €15.15, a rise of 79 cent.

A High Court ruling favourable to Greencore, which should mean that it gets a larger chunk of EU sugar aid, did not have a material impact on the stock yesterday, and it actually fell 6 cent to €5.20.

Elsewhere, the saga of Irish Continental Group rumbled on. The group's share price closed at €20.85, up 35 cent.

The Irish Stock Exchange will introduce "free float" methodology for the calculation of Iseq equity indices on Monday.

Companies such as Smurfit Kappa and Aer Lingus may see index-tracking investors offload some of their shares to reflect the new weightings, which will exclude shares held by interested parties and long-term shareholdings that are unavailable in the market.