Market stages strong recovery

THE ISEQ index of Irish shares surged 144.47 points to finish a rocky week at 6,259.51, despite Citigroup, the largest bank in the US, losing $5bn for the first quarter as bad bets on mortgages and leveraged loans cut billions of dollars from its investment portfolio.

AIB rose 30c to 13.50, Bank of Ireland rose 34c to 9.17, Irish Life & Permanent jumped up 62c to 12.04, while Anglo Irish Bank dipped 1c to 8.18.

CRH moved back up 23c to rest at 24.28. Kingspan moved back up to 8.15, a gain of 25c while Grafton gained 8c to 5.63.