DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,146.04 (+47.36) Settlement date: March 25th:IT WAS "quadruple witching" hour on the Irish market yesterday, which meant that option and futures contracts expired, creating enormous volatility.

Adding to the instability was the fact that three Irish stocks – CRH, Kerry Group and DCC – joined the Dow Jones Eurostoxx index.

Furthermore, the “rump stock” placed by CRH on the market last Thursday after its successful rights issue led to huge volumes of the stock changing hands, as investors either added to, or traded out of, positions.

After touching €16.37 at one point during the session, CRH closed at €16.20, a gain of 1.38 per cent.

The banks put in another strong performance, with Irish Life Permanent proving to be the shining light. The stock shot up by more than 44 per cent on the day to €1.30.

Brokers noted that this was mainly due to interest from retail investors. “Joe Punter on the street viewed this as a good opportunity to get back into the banks,” one broker said.

ILP is favoured by small investors above AIB and Bank of Ireland, the broker explained, as it is considered the least likely of the three to be nationalised.

However, the two main banks continued to benefit from “the positive feed-through from financials” in the US in recent days, he said. Bank of Ireland bounced almost 23 per cent to €0.50, while AIB gained roughly 12.5 per cent to close at just over €0.66.

Despite joining the Eurostoxx index, Kerry Group shed 1.5 per cent to €14.50.

This was believed to be partly due to a large investor taking the opportunity to flip their holding in the stock.

Industrial holdings group DCC also lost ground, slipping 10 cent to €11.80.