AIB leads Iseq higher

The Dublin stock market clawed back Monday's losses today, with the Iseq index of Irish shares closing up almost 2 per cent.

The more buoyant mood on the index reflected upward momentum on European stock markets, where commodity, energy and banking stocks rose as fears over the possible impact of a tightening in monetary policy ebbed. Stocks across Europe reached an 18-month high, as Germany and France agreed to back International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid for Greece.

With the Irish market outperforming the European indices, the Irish banks more than recovered the previous day's slippage, with AIB bouncing 6.7 per cent to close at €1.59 and Bank of Ireland soaring 5.7 per cent to a finishing price of €1.32.

Independent News & Media, which publishes its full-year results tomorrow, was another big climber in percentage terms, finishing up 5.75 per cent at 9 cent.

The company announced a change to its board, appointing Bengt Braun as a non-executive director and declaring that the appointment meant that half of the board was comprised of independent directors in compliance with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance.

Irish Life & Permanent, which rose 3.3 per cent to €3.10, also announced future changes to its board, indicating that Eamonn Heffernan and former financial regulator Liam O'Reilly would be retiring from its board at its May agm.

Elsewhere, food group Greencore was among the fallers, dropping 0.75 per cent to €1.33, while fruit company Fyffes also finished slightly down.

But most of the main stocks made gains on the day that was in it, with a 2.5 per cent rise by building materials group CRH, the largest component stock on the index, helping the Iseq finish firmly in positive territory. Glanbia, Elan, Ryanair, Kingspan and Aer Lingus were among the stocks to climb.