THE Dublin equity market has reached another new high, with share prices rising by over 1.74 per cent yesterday, adding more than £400 million to the value of share prices. The increase came in response to overnight strength on Wall Street, with European markets further encouraged by a continued rise in Wall Street late yesterday.

The Dow Jones index closed up 46.96 points on 7008.99.

Overall, European stock markets swung erratically before closing higher as a volatile Wall Street sent out a series of contradictory signals.

European stocks opened strongly following a near record gain on the Dow Industrials overnight, fell when strong US statistics underlined the likelihood of an interest rate rise and recovered when Wall Street quickly forgot the data.

In Dublin, the ISEQ index overtook its March peak, closing at 3,104.81, with strong gains in both the industrial and financial stocks. The weakness of the pound attracted some foreign investors into the market as Irish shares cost less in their currency terms.

Among the stocks to gain strongly were Bank of Ireland, up 11p to 695p and Irish Permanent up 15p to 620p, which will no doubt please shareholders as they gather for today's annual general meeting.

In London, the FTSE 100 leapt to a record 4,466.5 in pre market trading, but slid slowly but surely throughout the morning. Benefiting from Wall Street's strength London recovered to finish slightly higher.