The Irish stock market closed up 1.3 per cent yesterday after climbing 78 points.
The Iseq index's biggest stock, CRH, advanced 3.1 per cent - outperforming other stocks in its sector - and Ryanair's share price bounced 6.8 per cent on high trading volume of 13.5 million as oil prices eased back.
But the Iseq's mid-morning ascent was arrested by comments from European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet, who suggested at yesterday's ECB press conference that the central bank is considering hiking interest rates next month in order to curb inflation risks.
This was bad news for the financial stocks that are exposed to the residential mortgage market. Irish Life & Permanent tumbled 19 cent to €10.25, down 1.8 per cent, while Bank of Ireland fell 10 cent to €7.50, down 1.3 per cent. AIB also lost half a percentage point, closing down 6 cent at €20.30.
The hawkish tone of the ECB's statement also weakened the dollar and spurred a $2 rebound in oil prices, suggesting that Ryanair's bounce might not be sustained.
It was a good day for C&C, which soared 4.8 per cent to €5.40, up 25 cent on relatively light volume of 1.8 million shares.
There was more activity in Independent News & Media, where 2.4 million shares traded hands, and it advanced almost 3 per cent to €2.27, up 6 cent on the day.
The market reacted positively to suggestions that industrial holdings group DCC might be broken up and its share price added 40 cent to close at €16.50, up 2.5 per cent.
Among the fallers were building materials group Kingspan, fruit distributor Fyffes and paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa.
The FTSE 100 of Britain's leading shares ended higher as the Bank of England (BoE) held interest rates, while banks gained and consolidation activity buoyed heavyweight Vodafone.
The FTSE 100 ended up 25.2 points, or 0.4 per cent at 5,995.3 and was little-affected by the BoE's decision to hold rates at 5.0 percent for a second month running. The Dax index ended at 6941.83 points, down 23.6 or 0.34 per cent.
The CAC-40 index closed at 4907.06 points, down 8.01 or 0.16 per cent.