Together with the Iseq index bellwether CRH, the two main banks led the Irish market a little higher on a day when its main European peers were all off slightly.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European companies closed down 0.2 per cent at 885.75 points, after hitting its highest closing level in five months yesterday.
AIB and Bank of Ireland built on gains made earlier in the week, albeit on lighter volumes. Allied closed at €2.35, a jump of more than 5 per cent, while Bank of Ireland added about 2.5 per cent to finish at €2.23.
Irish Life & Permanent underperformed on the day, selling off heavily in the afternoon session to close at €3.95, down more than 9 per cent, or 40 cent.
Cement giant CRH traded up by 24 cent to €17.94.
Ryanair, which has been losing ground over the last week, slipped a little further today. The low-fares airline traded around the €3.48 mark for much of the day, and finished at €3.46, a daily drop of almost 2 per cent.
In terms of stock-specific news, Independent News & Media announced earlier today that it had revised down its 2009 operating profit forecasts. However the company also said that it was optimistic of reaching agreement with bondholders on refinancing a €200 million debt.
This news was pretty well received by investors, brokers noted, and the stock rallied on the news, gaining more than 15 per cent - or close to 4 cent - to just over 28 cent, giving it a market capitalisation of €237 million.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 4,441.95 points, down 19.92 or 0.45 per cent, up a mere 3.39 points from a week ago. In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 5,069.24 points, down 38.02 or 0.74 per cent, a drop of 7.79 points since last weekend. In Paris the CAC-40 index closed at 3,326.14 points, down 8.8 or 0.26 per cent, down 12.91 points from last Friday.
(Additional reporting - Reuters)