With the London market reacting enthusiastically to the signals from the Bank of England that the latest rise in British interest rates will be the last, and with Wall Street opening firmly, Irish shares scaled new peaks with strong demand for industrial shares in particular.
CRH was most in demand and dealt up almost 20p to close fractionally below its all-time high on 700p, while in London CRH shares were up 14p to 628p sterling.
Smurfit remained well-bid and dealt up 2p to 222p as JS Corp regained $1/2 to $18 1/2 in New York. Other industrials to benefit from the firm tone to the market were Greencore - up 6p to 338p - and Waterford Wedgwood - up 1p to 91p.
Ryanair gained 8p to 390p, Avonmore was 1p firmer on 314p, while IAWS gained 5p to 235p. Kerry was 3p easier on 667p.
Financials were also firmer with Bank of Ireland up 4p on 847p, although AIB was unchanged on 624p as the prospects of a nearterm buyback recedes. Irish Per- manent, which is renewing its efforts to find the owners of 8.7 million unclaimed free shares from the 1994 flotation, was unchanged on 668p, while Irish Life was 1p easier on 360p.
Gilts followed international markets upwards and prices rose slightly all along the yield curve. The inflation figures added the air of joy on the Irish market and even strong bank lending figures failed to cast any gloom on the market.
