Market maintains moderate gains

Euro stocks traded stronger yesterday after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president François Hollande released a statement stating they were prepared to do everything possible to protect the eurozone.

Sources in Europe were also speculating that the ECB and eurozone rescue fund were preparing to enter the bond markets to reduce Spanish and Italian borrowing costs. The Iseq index tacked on 25.22 points to 3,145.89.

Irish banks were mixed, AIB lost 0.2c to 4.8c as the majority State-owned bank announced a €1.1 billion loss for the first half of 2012. Bank of Ireland closed up 0.3c at 10.1c while Permanent TSB Group was unchanged at 2.2c.