ILP is star performer as banks lead upward surge

Iseq: 4,494.95 (+114.75).THE IRISH market climbed for the third day in a row yesterday, as a bullish US market led to a rally in financial and construction stocks.

The Iseq closed up 114.75 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 4,494.95 on a positive day for Irish stocks.

Leading the charge were financial stocks, and Irish Life Permanent was the star performer, adding to its gains on Wednesday by finishing the day up 52 cent or 8.9 per cent to €6.44.

AIB was next in line, advancing by 60 cent or 7.4 per cent to close at €8.75.

Bank of Ireland was up 32 cent or 6.1 per cent to €5.53, but Anglo Irish Bank gave away some of its previous day's gains by dropping back by 2 cent, or 0.3 per cent, to €5.70.

On the back of strong US housing results, CRH gained 85 cent, or 5 per cent, to climb to €18.10.

Ahead of its interim results today, Grafton Group stayed fairly steady at €4.00, adding 3 cent, or 0.8 per cent, to its share price. Kingspan closed the day up once more, increasing by 15 cent, or 2 per cent, to €7.70.

Although it opened down 4 per cent due to announcing an operating loss of €22.3 million for the first six months of 2008, Aer Lingus clawed back some of its losses during the day, as a sell-off in oil saw it rebound to close the day up 7 cent, or almost 5 per cent, to €1.49.

Similarly, Ryanair finished the day up 13 cent, or 5 per cent, to €2.65.

Weaker-than-expected results from housebuilder McInerney saw its share price nosedive, as an operating loss of €22.1 million for the first six months of 2008 led to its share price declining by 9 cent, or 23.7 per cent, to €0.29.

Following a temporary 15 per cent decline due to a broker error on Wednesday, TVC Holdings opened the day back up at €0.87 where it stayed until close.

Settlement date:September 2nd