A busy day on the Irish market, in which the ISEQ closed 24.63 stronger at 5,869.69, saw good activity in the financial stocks.

Anglo Irish put in another good performance, with its shares the subject of much international attention. More than seven million shares changed hands on a day when the stock finished 20 cents stronger at €4.10.

The two big banks both ended the day stronger. After its losses of the previous day, Bank of Ireland had a good performance yesterday, rallying towards the end of the day to close at €10.84, up 14 cents on the previous day's closing price of €10.70.

AIB picked up two cents to finish at €12.69 with more than 1.7 million shares traded.

Eircom, which had drifted for a while, rallied in the afternoon, reflecting an upturn in Vodafone's fortunes. It jumped two cents to €2.53.

Strong demand for Smurfit from US-based investors continued despite some criticism from domestic investors at yesterday's a.g.m. With six million shares changing hands, the stock traded as high as €2.19, before drifting off to close at €2.12, four cents weaker. A single deal in Barlo saw 3.35 million shares changing hands. However, its price remained unchanged at €0.90. Despite 600,000 shares changing hands, DCC also ended the day unchanged at €10.40.

There was quite strong interest in Navan Mining, where more than 200,000 shares were traded. It jumped 26 cents to €1.94.

CRH put in a quiet day, with just more than 500,000 shares traded. It picked up three cents to close at €19.25.