Stocks enjoyed a mixed performance on the market yesterday in relatively light volumes. Financials were the main focus, with Irish banks underperforming the market and its peer group, particularly in Britain where banks were 2.4 per cent stronger and Europe where they were up 1.5 per cent.

Despite the pressure on financials, AIB rallied in the second half of the day ahead of interim results tomorrow. After opening more than 3 per cent weaker, AIB bounced back to trade as high as €12.22 at one stage before eventually closing at €12.14, 2 cents up on the session.

Bank of Ireland continued to find itself under pressure. It opened down and stayed down over the day, eventually finishing 10 cents weaker at €10.85. First Active was also 10 cents easier on the day, dropping to €3. Anglo Irish Bank rallied at the end of trade, eventually picking up 2 cents to €4.20 on good volumes of more than 2.4 million shares. Irish Life & Permanent was 18 cents stronger at €13.35 in volume of just under 200,000 shares.

Elsewhere, CRH enjoyed good two-way flow and good volumes, but eventually closed the day unchanged at €19.50. Smurfit was also the subject of good two-way interest, but it also finished unchanged at €2.34.

Independent News & Media enjoyed a good run yesterday, albeit on small volumes of just under 114,000 shares. It advanced 13 cents to €2.43.

Fyffes was under a little pressure, shedding 1 cent to €1.17, while Ryanair lost 25 cents to €12 with more than 638,000 shares changing hands.