The Irish market, reflecting the general trend in Europe, ended the day 1.64 per cent stronger, picking up 78.67 points to close at 4,887.35.

Gains were driven by strong interest in financials. The two big banks made significant gains on a strong day for European financials. Bank of Ireland surged ahead 31 cents to €8.55 with nearly four million shares changing hands. Rival AIB, which saw just more than 2.1 million shares traded, picked up 19 cents to close the day at €9.59.

Elsewhere, Anglo Irish Bank lost six cents to €3.33, while both Irish Life & Permanent and First Active finished the day unchanged at €10.85 and €2.80 respectively.

Galen, which had been under a lot of pressure lately, rallied strongly yesterday, advancing 40 cents to €9.20 on a volume of more than 200,000 shares.

Also trading up was Ryanair, which finished 14 cents higher at €8.37 on the back of positive comments on the airline's future growth earlier in the week.

Kerry Group also put in a good day, adding 27 cents to close at €13.60.

Smurfit, following downgrades by a number of brokers, dropped back four cents to €1.88, with more than 750,000 shares changing hands. CRH was four cents weaker at €16.15. Green Property disclosed that it had bought back and cancelled 100,000 shares at €6. It closed the day unchanged at €6.

Meanwhile tech stocks on the ISEQ continued to slide on relatively light volumes, reflecting the general malaise in small-cap and niche technology stocks globally. Horizon dropped back seven cents to €0.60, Iona lost 70 cents to finish at €9.80, while Riverdeep finished 37 cents weaker at €2.43.