Market closes at record high

THE Irish market regained Wednesday’s losses to close out the session at record high levels, finishing up 75.41 to 8,456.84.

The banks traded strongly as the ECB indicated that there is only one more interest hike in the offing. AIB shone rose 63c to €21.45. Bank of Ireland, Anglo-Irish and Irish Life and Permanent also performed well, gaining 9c, 23c and 16c respectively.

In construction, CRH lost 3c to finish at €27.38 and Kingspan also shipped 20c to €16.52. Meanwhile, Grafton added 7c ending the session at €11.20.

Elsewhere, Ryanair were unchanged at €8.50, while the company’s target Aer Lingus lost 5c to €2.90.