Dublin Market:  Industrials drove most of the activity on the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday, leaving the ISEQ Index of Irish shares 37.06 points ahead to close at 6,552.01.

Ryanair maintained the altitude it gained the previous day, and the stock added six cent to close at €6.54 after 4.85 million shares changed hands.

The airline got an extra fillip after producing figures yesterday to show that January passenger numbers were 20 per cent up at over 2 million, while the proportion of seats sold rose to 74 per cent from 71 per cent.

Dealers said that the market had already factored likely passenger number gains into the price, but yesterday's figures beat expectations and gave the stock continued momentum.

Eircom was the other star performer, adding two cent to close at €1.95 after 5.2 million shares were traded yesterday.

Dealers said last night that investors' interest was partly sparked by a Lehmann Brothers' research note, setting a target price of €2.60 for the stock, and the expectation that it will unveil good figures when it reports next week.

Fyffes, the subject of public scrutiny in the High Court, grabbed investors' attention yesterday, with volumes reaching 3.3 million shares. The stock closed unchanged at €2.02.

Brokers did not attach huge importance to business being done in the fruit importer. "It was just two-way business between the institutions," one said.

Reports of good merchanting business in the UK added a few bricks to builders' merchant and DIY specialist, Grafton, which added 29 cent to close at €9.65 after 1.74 million shares traded.

In a related sector, brokers said building supplies group CRH had jumped by 42 cent to close at €20.92 on volumes of 2.15 million.

The banks were flat for the second day running, with AIB and Bank of Ireland recording volumes in Dublin of 1.8 million. AIB closed five cent up at €15.45, while Bank of Ireland was unchanged at €30.33.

Dublin Report Settlement Date: February 8th