The Irish market enjoyed a day of reasonably firm trading yesterday, finishing nearly 1 per cent stronger. The ISEQ closed the day 53.02 points up at 5,511.07.

Bank of Ireland continued to surge in anticipation of planned changes from the end of this month in the calculation of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index. Its shares stand to benefit from the changes and advanced index buying saw its share price jump 35 cents to €10.69 yesterday, with more than three million shares changing hands.

The other Irish financials enjoyed a mixed day. AIB dropped back two cents to €11.36 with just more than one million shares traded. Anglo Irish Bank closed at €3.94, picking up 10 cents ahead of its results tomorrow. First Active was five cents stronger at €3.35, while Irish Life & Permanent jumped 10 cents to €12.20.

Green Property, which is also expected to benefit by inclusion in the MSCI index, saw some index-related buying too. It advanced 10 cents to close the day at €6.40.

Despite light volumes, DCC gained 20 cents to €11.55. Among the industrials, CRH put in a strong day's trading. On modest volumes, it advanced 31 cents to close the day at €18.06. Ryanair also closed seven cents stronger to €12.85.

Elsewhere, small and midcap stocks also saw increased attention yesterday.

Greencore was 13 cents stronger at €2.71, Grafton picked up six cents to close at €3.10, while Heiton jumped 15 cents to €2.70.

Market heavyweight Elan was 10 cents weaker at €51, while Kerry shed seven cents to close the day at €14.10. IAWS dropped five cents to €8.45.