The ISEQ seems keen to finish the year on a positive note in much the same manner as 1998 began with yesterday's financial stocks surging ahead by almost 2 per cent and general stocks largely following in their wake.

The Central Bank's belief - voiced in its quarterly bulletin - that the economy would continue to perform strongly should boost end-of-year confidence. But it was a strong rally in the early session of the Dow Jones that provided the impetus for European bourses.

The news that CRH would buy the British brick and tiles company, Ibstock, in a deal worth £435 million arrived too late for its stock to be buoyed but dealers reported significant bidding on the back of Merrill Lynch's recommendation, and the closing price of 1235p will almost certainly be improved on today. Smurfit was also up on the day, climbing to 125p, a rise of 7p. Among the other non-financials, pharmaceutical company Elan also added weight to yesterday's surge, rising by 75.5p to 4293p.

Second-liners were "squeezed up in light volume" but it was difficult to read any meaning into their movements, according to one dealer. IWP was up 10p to 185p, Green Property was up 10p to 385 and Independent, benefiting from the rationalisation plan announced last week, gained 5p to close at 265p. Banks were in good form, clawing back some of the slide of recent months. AIB was up to 1170p, a 40p or 3.5 per cent rise, and Bank of Ireland added 10p to its price, closing at 1480p.

Irish Life rose by more than 2 per cent to close up 13.5p at 623.5p but its merger partner, Irish Permanent, eased back 20p to 980p.

In stock exchange news, National Westminster Bank announced that it has a 13.07 per cent interest in Lamont, the Northern Irish textiles company.