MARKET REPORT: Settlement Date: February 21st. Stocks in Dublin rallied in afternoon trade as the Dow opened up substantially on the back of talk that US President George W. Bush and British prime minister Mr Tony Blair had agreed a two-week moratorium on war in Iraq to allow weapons inspectors time to complete their work.
Traders said volume was, with a couple of exceptions, still fairly light with the market's rise accounted for by mark-ups of prices rather than massive buying. The index ended the session ahead 0.7 per cent.
Among the main winners was AIB, which saw strong trade ahead of widely-flagged results tomorrow.
The shares rose 10 cents to €12.50. Bank of Ireland also rose at the close, although traders said most of the trade was done between €10.10 and €10.20. Brokers were in the market buying on behalf of the bank at €10.13, although the scale of yesterday's buyback was not immediately clear. The shares closed up four cents at €10.29 with close to two million shares trading.
Among the smaller financials, Anglo Irish recovered from Monday's weakness as rumours of the retirement of chief executive Mr Sean FitzPatrick dissipated. Irish Life & Permanent was also stronger in the wake of a note from Davy saying the share had been oversold, moving ahead three cents to €9.53. First Active was unchanged on the day at €5.50.
Elsewhere, CRH continued its recent recovery, advancing 12 cents to €12 in reasonable volume. Ryanair, too, posted a gain of 25 cents to €6.65 as the war outlook cleared and Mr Michael O'Leary announced another seat giveaway.
