The final day's trading before the Christmas break was an excellent one for the Irish market, with the ISEQ ending more than 2.7 per cent higher - driven by strong gains by the banks and major industrial stocks.
The Irish market took its cue from the 100-point rise in the FTSE, better corporate news in the US from the likes of Nike, Western Digital and Nortel, and improved US consumer confidence figures.
While prices were firmer, turnover was modest - reflecting the fact that many fund managers had already closed their books. Among the banks, AIB continued to benefit from the S&P upgrade and jumped another 50 cents to €12.70, while Bank of Ireland gained 48 cents to €10.40.
Among the large industrials, Elan was €1.70 higher in Dublin on €50.05 and by midday on the NYSE was up almost 3 per cent with a $1.28 gain to $44.78. CRH - boosted through being chosen by Morgan Stanley as its top European building stock - was 12 cents higher on €19.92, while Ryanair - also chosen by Morgan Stanley as its top airline stock - gained six cents to €6.86.
IFG was unchanged on €3.10 after placing almost two million shares with CGNU at that price. Heiton was five cents higher on €2.90, as Fidelity disclosed that it bought 545,000 shares to take its stake to 5.5 million shares, or 11.2 per cent.
Independent was unchanged on €2.15 after Capital disclosed that its stake is now 11 per cent. Its last notified stake was just over 10 per cent.
Riverdeep's deal in Georgia gave the share a big boost, and by midday on Nasdaq the shares were up almost 12 per cent, above $18.
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