Steady buying and an extreme shortage of offers of stock drove the Irish market up to a new closing high. Given the level of buying interest from overseas institutions and the shortage of offers, the technical position of the market remains firm, although movements on key international markets will be the dominant factor.

While the leading financial and industrial stocks dominated dealing in the past couple of weeks, yesterday it was the turn of some of the second-line stocks to report the biggest gains. The best performer was Irish Permanent which jumped 35p to a new 850p high in very busy trading.

Irish Permanent has one of the biggest shareholders' registers on the market, but the supply of stock to meet institutional demand remains limited. Some dealers suggested that part of the demand comes from a belief in some quarters that once its takeover-free period expires, 10 per cent stakeholder Abbey National may turn its attentions towards the Permo.

Irish Life was also in demand and closed up 11p on 460p, but the two main banks were dull for a change with Bank of Ireland drifting 5p lower to £11.20 while AIB was 3p firmer on 728p.

CRH lost 4p to 876p while Smurfit edged higher and closed up 3 3/8p on 203 3/8p.

Second-line industrials did well with gains across most of the better-quality stocks. Avonmore Waterford was up 8p on 273p despite uncertainty over union reaction to the rationalisation plan while Golden Vale continued its new year surge, closing another 2p ahead on 108p. Kerry jumped 30p to 800p on a severe shortage of stock while Greencore was 1p firmer on 376p.

Independent added 7p to 472p, Irish Continental hit another new high with a 50p gain to £10 while IFG was 9p firmer on a new 95p high.