Iseq:3,027.98 (-4.40) Settlement date:December 30th

CHRISTMAS CHEER seemed to abound among investors taking a punt on the financial stocks yesterday, as AIB and Bank of Ireland posted strong climbs in their share prices.

Given that market players are starting to drift away from their trading desks before the festive break (with only a half-day’s trading on the Iseq ), it was reasonably busy day for the banks.

Buyer interest in Bank of Ireland, including a couple of big blocks of shares traded at €1.30, helped push the stock up 6.5 per cent to €1.44.

Likewise, a strong day for AIB shares meant it finished up 9.7 per cent at €1.34. The bank held an egm yesterday at which shareholders backed its part of the Nama process.

Trading in Irish Life & Permanent was quieter, but the bank’s shares climbed in the wake of the positive sentiment towards the other Irish financial stocks, and so it finished up 3 per cent at a price of €3.16.

Overall, the Iseq index of Irish shares finished flat on what was a generally flat day for equity values across the major European stock market indices.

The upward momentum provided by the banks was cancelled out by downward drag from building materials group CRH, the largest component stock on the index. It fell 1.5 per cent in trading to close at €19.20, after it attracted a few sellers. The company is back on the acquisition trail, having picked up a US asphalt company, but the ground made by its share price in recent days was given up yesterday.

Another Iseq heavy hitter, Ryanair, also had a negative day, closing down at €3.40.

Food group Greencoremoved above the €1.40 mark on volume of around half a million. It finished up 2.88 per cent at €1.43. The next full day of market trading is on Tuesday, December 29th.