DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,109.93 (+25.22) Settlement date: March 21st:THE IRISH market bucked the negative trend evident in Europe yesterday, closing up 1 per cent at just under 2,110.

As the main component of the Iseq index, CRH was largely responsible for this gain.

It rose more than 2 per cent to €15.95 on the back of market speculation that the cement giant’s rights issue, which expired yesterday, was quite successful.

Any “rump” shares not taken up during the rights issue will be placed on the market today or tomorrow, with brokers expecting this to result in significant activity in the stock.

No-frills airline Ryanair had what brokers described as a “topsy turvy” day.

It weakened during the morning session, falling below the €2.70 mark at one point, but staged a recovery after Goldman Sachs put the airline on its “conviction buy” list. It closed out at €2.87, a gain of 1 per cent.

In the financial sector, Bank of Ireland put in a strong performance, climbing almost 11 per cent to €0.35.

However AIB and Irish Life Permanent both shed about three cent to finish at €0.52 and €0.75 respectively.

Dragon Oil attracted strong buyer interest yesterday and closed up more than 6 per cent at almost €1.80.

Kingspan was “the weak feature” of the day, brokers reported. The building materials group tumbled 7 per cent, or 20 cent, to €2.65 following a profit warning from its peer SIG. The slide was also believed to be due to profit-taking following Kingspan’s recent good run.

Packaging group Smurfit-Kappa traded down by close to 4 per cent yesterday to finish the session at €1.25.

Brokers attributed this poor performance to the knock-on effect of a profit warning from its European peer Stora Enso.