THE holiday atmosphere pervaded the Dublin market which closed margin ally stronger. Financial stocks were the most active and fared best and there was interest in some of the frontliners.

Despite concerns about the upward trend in US interest rates there was good buying interest in AIB. The shares put on 4p to close at 431p after slipping to 427p in late dealing on Wednesday. AIB touched 434p at one stage before a poor opening on Wall Street took some of the lustre off the Dublin market.

Bank of Ireland rose 2p from the late deal on Wednesday to close at 630p. Irish Permanent was unchanged at 602p, while Irish Life moved 2p stronger to 332p in a put-through.

CRH, benefiting from the bright outlook for the Irish construction and property sectors, gained 7p to close at 622p. In a London deal, Arnotts traded at 366p sterling, down from Wednesday's close at 400p in Dublin. The shares traded in Dublin at 400p towards the close.

No reason was known for the drop in London, which followed the announcement earlier this week of a 25 per cent jump in group pre-tax profits to £6.8 million for the year to mid-January.

Elsewhere, good buying pushed Clondalkin up 15p to close at 605p, while Kingspan held on to its gains this week to close unchanged at 670p - the gains followed good 1996 results and reflected positive sentiment about the current year.

The bond market was weak but quiet all day following weak US treasuries. Strong US data on existing home sales later in the day intensified concerns about a further US interest rate hike - a move that could come sooner rather than later. Jitters pushed the US long bond yield over 7 per cent for the first time since last September.

In line with a general weakness on international bond markets, the yield on the benchmark long bond in Dublin rose to 7.03 per cent from 7.02 per cent, while the 10-year stock rose to 6.79 per cent.from 6.76 per cent.

Dealers said the markets were now waiting for next week's US payroll and purchasing managers data for indications on how soon the Fed will make another interest rate move.