Irish shares may be set for further recovery today after the US Federal Reserve confirmed it was taking no action on interest rates and the Bundesbank gave a strong hint that it, too, planned to leave interest rates unchanged. The Fed decision came after the European markets closed and may provide the spark for further gains when markets reopens this morning.

Dealers in Dublin reported steady demand for stock, especially the industrials, while some of the second-liners made some strong gains.

Among the industrials, CRH was 12p higher on 738p while Smurfit gained 7p to 231p in steady trading, with Paine Webber adding a "buy" recommendation to JS Corp after its enthusiastic report on Smurfit last week.

Kerry jumped 30p to a new high of 710p, with the size of the increase mainly due to the shortage of supply of a stock which is still 39 per cent held by Kerry Co-op. Kingspan was up 10p on 925p while Fyffes was 3p higher on 101p.

Losers included Independent, down 8p on 452p, Greencore, down 5p on 325p and Ryanair, down 7p on 337p. Fishers was unchanged on 20p after confirming that an approach to Hambro to buy Hambro Insurance Services had been rejected.

Financials were less active, with AIB unchanged on 590p and Bank of Ireland unchanged on 790p, although Irish Life jumped 15 1/2p to 348p.

Gilts were firmer, boosted by a successful long bond auction and a positive tone in the German bond market. The National Treasury Management Agency's auction of £100 million of the 2015 benchmark stock was more than four times subscribed.