Dublin market closes higher

Dublin joined in the upward momentum on equity markets as European stocks climbed to a 28-month high today, driven by the financial sector, as the London-listed Barclays and HSBC both rallied in response to analyst recommendations.

On the Iseq index of Irish shares, AIB and Bank of Ireland were lifted by positive investor sentiment towards the sector. Both stocks rose more than 6 per cent on the day - although so low are both banks' share prices these days, this only meant a 1 cent and 2 cent climb respectively. AIB, for the record, closed at 30 cent and Bank of Ireland at 33 cent.

Overall, the Iseq rose almost 1.5 per cent today.

There was a 5.6 per cent gain for industrial holdings group DCC, which finished at €24.10, after recent trading updates from Microsoft and several electronics retailers boded well for DCC Sercom, the exclusive distributor of Microsoft's Xbox and Kinect to the part of the UK market that Microsoft does not supply directly.

Fruit importer Fyffes rose 2.6 per cent to 39 cent after it increased its guidance on its 2010 earnings to €19-€20 million, thanks to strong banana prices at the end of the year. The group also warned that banana and pineapple prices could rise over the year as it battles higher fuel costs and less favourable exchange rates.

C&C, which issues an interim trading statement on Friday, advanced 4.3 per cent to €3.51, after analysts at Davy Research wrote a note to investors estimating that volumes of its Magners cider in the off-trade are up 25 per cent in the year to date.

Greencore was more or less flat at €1.33. However, a note from NCB Stockbrokers on margin pressures in the food business - on foot of a cautious outlook from Marks & Spencer - concluded that the trend towards rising input costs underlined the rationale for the proposed merger between Greencore and Northern Foods.

Elsewhere, both Irish airline stocks drifted upwards, with Ryanair closing up 1.1 per cent at €3.94 and Aer Lingus up 4.1 per cent at €1.09.