ISEQ up more than 2%

The ISEQ index of Irish shares was valued at 2,546.75 at 11am this morning.

This represented an increase of 53.07 points, or 2.13%.

All of the major banks reported increases - AIB was up 4c to 92c, Bank of Ireland rose 12c to €1.07 while Irish Life & Permanent gained 15c to €2.35.

Elsewhere, risers outweighed fallers, with Irish Continental (down 33c to €10.92) one of the major companies to suffer a loss.

High-fliers included Paddy Power, which added €1.16 to reside at €16.42, and First Derivative and Irish Life & Permanent, both up 15c to €3.15 and €2.35 respectively.