Strong gains by financial shares in particular drove the Irish market ahead as investors took the view that Mr Alan Greenspan's cryptic comments yesterday are still a forerunner of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.

Shares came off their best levels, however, and Bank of Ireland hit a high of €10.52 before closing up 15 cents on €10.42 in volume of more than 2.2 million shares. AIB has struggled to match Bank of Ireland's progress over the past few days and that pattern was maintained yesterday with AIB up just 2 cents on €12.90. Irish Life jumped 27 cents to €12.47 while nearly a million Anglo Irish shares traded as the share jumped 11 cents to a new high of €3.35 on the back of profits and earnings upgrades.

Industrials were mixed but there was renewed demand for CRH which hit a high of €19.70 before closing 48 cents higher on €19.64. Eircom was as high as €2.60 before late weakness in European telecom stocks left the shares just 2 cents higher on €2.53. Kerry was hit by some profit-taking with more than 800,000 shares trading as the share dropped 38 cents to €13.50. Ryanair jumped 49 cents to €11.45 in low volumes while Smurfit eased 1 cent to €2.02.

Among second-liners, IFG - one of the best performers of the past year - gained 20 cents to a new high of €2.40 while Irish Continental gained 25 cents to €7.70.

Technology shares were mixed, with Iona hit by small-scale profit-taking which left the share almost $3 lower in midday Nasdaq trading on $63. Riverdeep was 40 cents higher on €4.70 while Baltimore remained firm in London, adding 124p to 437-1/2p sterling. Parthus was quiet, ending just 1p higher on 210p sterling.