Dublin Report: A slow day for company news did not deter activity in larger stocks yesterday, driving the ISEQ index of Irish shares up 31.30 points to 5,972.48.

A quickly quashed rumour that food and drinks group C&C was a possible suitor for UK cider and soft drinks player Merryweather, sparked a flurry of interest in the stock.

However, once it emerged that the manufacturer of Bulmers and Ballygowan was not interested in the UK property, investor interest died. The stock then closed one cent off at €2.64 on volumes of 815,000.

Once again, investors traded good volumes in the banks.

Bank of Ireland closed four cent down at €10.96 ahead of today's interim results announcement. Brokers attached no importance to the dip, as the stock traded at €11 for most of the day. Over 3.9 million shares changed hands.

Irish Life and Permanent came in for strong support, gaining 14 cent to close at €13.65 on volumes of 1.4 million. Brokers said that investors were "buying the Irish economy story".

AIB added 17 cent to close at €14.28. Brokers said that 2.6 million shares were sold in Dublin with a further two million traded in London.

The building materials group CRH gained 33 cent to close at €19.40, after a number of international brokers put it at the top of their list of global players in its sector, and set it a target price of €23.

Just over 1.3 million shares were traded.

In the same sector, Kingspan made 15 cent to close at €6.75.

Ryanair added two cent to close at €5.07, maintaining the momentum it gained last week. Investors forked out for 4.7 million shares.

In smaller caps, industrial holding company DCC added three cent to close at €15.73 on the back of volumes of 450,000.

Meanwhile, around 654,000 shares traded in troubled Waterford Wedgwood, which maintained its near penny stock price of eight cent.