Market climbs back above 3,000

THE ISEQ index of shares soared 259.29 points yesterday to 3,029.46 as the main financial stocks rebounded from the recent steep selloff. Traders were of the opinion that the sell off was overdone.

Shares in AIB jumped 56c to €4.21, Bank of Ireland increased 67c to €2.30, Anglo Irish Bank gained 51c to €2.50, while Irish Life & Permanent moved up 55c to €2.70.

In the construction sector CRH added to yesterday’s gains with a further increase of 20c to €16.90, Kingspan shed 1c to €4.50, while Grafton Group dipped 5c to €2.35.

In other news, Independent News and Media jumped 14c to 64c after announcing that it is preparing to sell its 39.1% stake in Australasian radio and newspaper group APN to reduce its debt by about €800m.