DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,372.89 (+62.36) Settlement date: April 16th: BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED quarterly results from Wells Fargo sparked a rally in US financial stocks that spread across the Atlantic and drove European markets higher.

Fortunately, the Iseq wasn’t left behind, and rose on the back of this wave of positive sentiment in line with its European counterparts to finish the trading week up almost 3 per cent at 2,372.89.

Market heavyweights CRH and Ryanair both gained roughly 4 per cent to close at €16.94 and €3.07 respectively.

After the violent swings in their share prices on Wednesday, the banks had a comparatively calm day, although volumes remained heavy.

AIB slipped nine cent to €1.12. Bank of Ireland was also down on the day, falling almost six cent to €0.84.

However, after the lows touched on Wednesday, this was a relatively good performance.

Most of the movement in the banks was attributed to profit-taking, while the high volumes may have been due to retail investors coming in and out of speculative positions a number of times during the day.

A combination of positive newsflow and rising oil prices saw Dragon Oil jump by 15 cent to €2.70.

The international oil and exploration company announced yesterday that it has extended a contract for a rig in the Caspian Sea by two years.

Meanwhile, in the food sector, Origin Enterprises stormed ahead by almost 7 per cent to €1.70, while bakery group Aryzta added 48 cent to the previous day’s gain to close at €20.55.

Grafton Group continued its recent good run and traded up 11 per cent to €2.31, while Kingspan marked up 19 cent to €3.50.

Elsewhere, United Drug gained more than 8 per cent to finish just below €1.70.