It was a reasonably quiet day on the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday with interest concentrated in a few stocks. The ISEQ was around 1 per cent stronger on the day, due largely to gains made by some of the bigger stocks, including AIB, CRH, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent. The index closed 57.31 points up at 5,463.77.

Stocks being included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MCSI) index saw some active trading throughout the day. There was strong trading in Bank of Ireland, where more than five million shares changed hands. It traded as low as €9.80 at one stage, before rallying to a high of €10.03. It eventually finished up at €10.02, a gain of 15 cents. Green Property saw more than 1.5 million shares traded yesterday but eventually closed the day unchanged at €6.

Elsewhere, AIB enjoyed a good run with a few buyers in the market driving the stock up. It gained 15 cents to €11.62 with more than 1.8 million shares changing hands. Among the other financials, Anglo Irish Bank was also well bid, surging ahead by 12 cents to €4.20 on volumes of more than two million shares. Irish Life & Permanent jumped 69 cents to €12.50, while First Active was unchanged on light volumes.

CRH also put in a good day, gaining 40 cents to €11.50 on a modest volume of just more than 800,000 shares traded. Ryanair also recovered some of its recent losses, picking up 30 cents to end the day at €12.70. Smurfit was one cent stronger at €2.39 on good volumes of more than 1.1 million shares.

Good volume was traded in Fyffes, but it eventually eased back two cents to €1.35, while DCC was also trading down, losing 24 cents to €11.50.