Market advances on US news

THE ISEQ index closed up 24.48 points yesterday at 2,015.77 points as world markets rebounded following comments from the Bank of America chief executive who said the bank has been profitable for the first two months of this year and hopes to be profitable for the year as a whole.

The financial stocks had another progressive day. AIB gained 4c to 51c, Bank of Ireland jumped 4c to 28c, Irish Life and Permanent dipped 6c to 73c, while insurance group FBD moved up 33c to e5.85.

In construction, CRH jumped 50c to e14.75, Grafton Group advanced 10c to e1.55 and Kingspan gained 7c to e2.53.