Bank and builders lead Iseq rally

The ISEQ index of Irish shares finished up 41.36 to close at 5383.50 today.

Financials led the charge with AIB up 13c to €12.70, Anglo Irish up 15c to €13.35 and Bank of Ireland up 37c to €10.65.

Earlier the company made two new appointments, Declan McCourt and Terry Neill to its Court of Directors.

It also announced a range of rate cuts across its portfolio of home loan and investment fixed-rate products.

Building firms also performed strongly ahead of the traditional Easter break.

CRH were up 37c to €17.17. The group published it annual report last week and indicated that an increasing emphasis being placed on corporate governance.

The firm also indicated that it was susceptible to interest rate changes.

Grafton Group was also up 16c to €6.36 driven by a steady increase in British merchanting rates.

McInerney was also up 10c to €5.10 while Readymix was ahead by 10c to €10.85.

Ryanair was up 8c to €5.05 after positive data on passenger figures last week.