DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,395.22 (+74.10) Settlement date: February 9thAS THE country's largest quoted company, a good day's trading for CRH yesterday automatically translated into a good day for the Irish market.

Building materials stocks led the US markets higher, and this had a spillover effect on CRH.

The cement giant rose by 76 cent to €18.50, which helped to lift the Irish overall index by 3.1 per cent to 2,395.22.

Strong performances by financial stocks in Europe also had a knock-on effect here.

Irish Life Permanent jumped more than 10 per cent, or 15 cent, to €1.60, while Bank of Ireland gained over 11 per cent, or almost 7 cent, to close at €0.65.

AIB missed out on this upswing, and closed more or less flat at €1.15.

However, considering that the stock traded as low as €0.97 at one point yesterday, this represented a good recovery.

A positive report on FBD Insurances issued yesterday by Bloxhams stockbrokers appeared to boost investor confidence in the stock, which traded up as high as €8.10 during the day, although it had slipped back to €7.80 by the end of the day, a drop of 7 cent from its opening price.

There was reasonably strong activity in Ryanair yesterday. The no-frills airline continued to benefit from the announcement on Monday that, contrary to earlier predictions, it expects to make a profit in the current financial year. It gained almost 13 cent, or close to 4 per cent, to finish at €3.27.

Elsewhere in the airline industry, Aer Lingus slipped by 3 cent to €0.95.

Dragon Oil had another good day, and marked up by 4 per cent, or 7 cent, to €1.82.

Other gainers included Elan, which added 34 cent to its share price to close at €6.34.

The main loser was recruitment group CPL Resources which fell by 15 cent to 95 cent.