The Irish market was not as buoyant as its European counterparts which saw rises of between 2 and 4 per cent yesterday. However, it had less ground to recover after the drama of the US air crash the previous day and ended the day marginally stronger, up 43.08 points at 5,181.86.

Nevertheless, a number of stocks traded in strong volumes. The big interest was in Bank of Ireland ahead of its interim results tomorrow with many investors interested in the bank's statement on current trading as much as its results. The stock saw a lot of two-way trading with nearly 3.3 million shares changing hands. It eventually closed the day 16 cents weaker at €9.28.

Among the financials, AIB was the biggest winner with a certain amount of switching out of Bank of Ireland into the stock. It picked up 18 cents to finish the day at €9.96 on volumes of around two million shares. Anglo Irish Bank enjoyed a steady day's trading with around one million shares traded. It advanced four cents to €3.46. Irish Life & Permanent was 10 cents firmer at €12.46, while First Active was unchanged at €3.08.

Elsewhere, reports that the Government was going to grant Ryanair its own terminal at Dublin airport added further impetus to the low cost airline's share price. It advanced 93 cents to close at €12.98, with just more than 700,000 shares changing hands.

Buoyed by the reporting of a strong set of half-year results earlier in the week, DCC picked up 35 cents to €10.60. CRH dropped back three cents to €17.40 with more than one million shares traded. Waterford Wedgwood picked up one cent to 67 cents. Green Property, which said it was planning to launch a £150-£200 million sterling bond in coming weeks, dropped back five cents to €6.10.