Strong buying interest across the board boosted the Dublin market today.
The Iseq Index of Irish shares was up 2.13 per cent at 6,473.49 at 4.30pm.
Dealers said there was interest in all leading shares and that volumes were good.
One of the big movers was building materials group, CRH, which was trading at around €25.10 just before the close, a gain of 3 per cent.
Financial stocks all enjoyed a good day. AIB was up 2 per cent at €13.85 and Bank of Ireland saw a similar increase to close at €9.10.
The gains in this sector mirrored the rest of Europe, where bank stocks drove a strong rally today. By close of business, the FTSE Eurofirst300 index of the continent's biggest stocks was up 1.6 per cent at 1,360.82.
The story was similar in London, where the FTSE 100 closed up 128.2 points at 6215.5.