The first quarter of 2005 was the busiest in the history of the Irish Stock Exchange as €26.8 billion worth of shares changed hands.
Turnover was 22 per cent up on the same period in 2004, and the number of daily transactions rose by 7 per cent to 3,171.
The overall Iseq index fell 3.4 per cent over the quarter, but this was a respectable return in what turned out to be a disappointing quarter for equity markets worldwide.
Despite the sluggish start to the year the Iseq is still 15 per cent higher year-on-year and has outperformed global indices such as the FTSE 100, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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The Iseq overall, financial and small cap indices all reached their life high during the quarter.