Iseq up on Ryanair, CRH

Equities gained across Europe today in tandem with a bounce in commodity prices, which had fallen steeply earlier in the week.

The fortunes of both equities and commodities hang on the outlook for global growth, which has wavered of late, and even today's relatively upbeat mood translated into rises of less than 1 per cent on the FTSE and the French Cac.

The Iseq's gains just about exceeded 1 per cent, as the index rose almost 30 points on the back of strong performances from its two largest stocks, CRH and Ryanair.

Pharmaceutical group Elan, another major stock on the index, fell 1 per cent to €5.17, ahead of the publication of its first quarter results next week. In a note to investors, analysts at Davy Research wrote that the risks to Elan's Tysabri drug were becoming more clearly defined and could yield additional revenue for the company.

Grafton, owner of builders' merchants business and DIY chains, was the subject of an upgrade by NCB Stockbrokers, which changed its recommendation on the stock from "buy" to "accumulate" on the basis of improving margins in its UK business and the recruitment of a new chief executive, Gavin Slark. The stock rose 1.8 per cent in trading, closing at €3.41.

Irish Life & Permanent, which confirmed that Alan Cook, a former managing director of the UK Post Office, would be its new chairman, saw its shares fall 6 per cent. However, this was actually a drop of less than 1 cent and it closed at 14 cent, the same price as the previous session.

The two other bank stocks both climbed 2 cent, with Bank of Ireland finishing at 27 cent and AIB at 24 cent.

Internationally, the big news in the banking sector was the announcement of strong profit growth by JPMorgan Chase, the second biggest US bank and the first major Wall Street bank to issue an earnings update for the first quarter. Analysts are now waiting to see if its performance will be reflected across the sector.