DUBLIN REPORT: Settlement date: August 6th Iseq: 2,865.73 (+74.63)THE GLOBAL market rebound spurred by positive results from Barclays and HSBC provided something of a fillip to the Irish market in quiet bank holiday trading.

Warning that trading volumes in Dublin were very slim however, market participants cautioned against reading too much on a “really dull day” into a 2.67 per cent rise in the ISEQ to 2,865.73. If hopes that the international recession may be coming to an end helped big-league global indices yesterday, the atmosphere on the home front was far less positive.

“It was generally quite a quiet day. Everything was squeezy. A lot of people were caught short on Barclays. They thought the results were going to be worse than they were,” said one Dublin trader.

“Barclays and HSBC dragged up the whole market. The States came up behind us but volumes aren’t hectic across the board.”

The main gainer among the financials was Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P), which raised a €1 billion bond last week with the benefit of the Government guarantee on more favourable terms than earlier in the year. Its shares closed 19 cent stronger at a little more than €3.62.

Ahead of keenly-awaited interim results from AIB tomorrow, the bank’s stock gained 2.2 cent to close slightly north of €1.78. Bank of Ireland was unchanged at €2, interpreted by traders as “consolidation” after a 16.9 cent rise last Friday after the Government published draft legislation for the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

While index heavy-weight CRH gained 90 cent to close at €17.65, traders cautioned that the volume of shares was very light. Greencore defied uncertainty about the ultimate fate of the 29.9 per cent stake held by developer Liam Carroll, who is under serious pressure, adding 12 cent to finish more than 11 per cent stronger at €1.19.