Dublin Report:After a dreary start to the week, the Iseq was the star performer of European stock markets yesterday, posting a 0.7 per cent rise as all the major stocks gave the index the boost it needed.

Building materials group CRH rose almost 4 per cent, closing up 90 cent at €23.90, having hit €24.02 at one stage during the trading session.

Among the financials, Irish Life & Permanent was the best performer, up 3.9 per cent at €10.60, but it was also a strong day for AIB, Anglo Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland.

The highest climber, however, was drinks group C&C, which rose 37 cent - an increase of 9.9 per cent - to close at €4.20, after on-trade data for Magners in Britain wasn't as bad as investors had feared.

Some covering of short positions was also responsible for the gains, according to dealers.

Aer Lingus closed up 1.8 per cent at an official closing price of €2.27, but there were two late trades after close of business, with 850,000 shares traded at €2.28 and a further 200,000 at €2.31.

It was a volatile day for Ryanair, which swung between €3.78 and €3.94 and closed at €3.83, down one cent on the previous day's close.

Dragon Oil was the main loser of yesterday's session, as crude oil prices eased to $90 a barrel.

The other main fallers were Ormonde Mining, Fyffes and Kenmare Resources.

Builders merchant and DIY group Grafton, a stock that has suffered of late, managed to gain 4 per cent to close at €4.91, while builders McInerney did even better, rising more than 5 per cent to finish at €1.58 ahead of a trading statement on Monday.

Building materials group Kingspan added 15 cent to €10.20, a climb of 1.5 per cent.