The ISEQ climbed 84 points to 5,426 this morning with banks rallying after the Bank of England cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 5.5 per cent.
Bank of Ireland, which has the largest exposure of any Irish bank to the British market, added 40 cents to euro 9.50 contributing to one third of the ISEQ's gain.
AIB gained 25 cents to euro 11.45 and Anglo Irish Bank advanced by 5 cents to euro 12.15.
Eircom is 7 cents stronger at euro 2.39 in line with the European telecoms sector. Earlier today BT said it would sell its yellow pages subsidiary as part of its plan to cut its massive debt mountain.
Ryanair also clawed back recent losses to advance 72 cents to euro 10.60 as investors took the view the stock was oversold in the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
On the downside Independent News and Media shares fell 7 per cent to euro 2.30 after its Australian media subsidiary warned overnight of slowing advertising revenue.
In London shares crept up after the Bank of England rate cut. The FTSE 100 is up 70.4 points at 5,606.2 at mid-session. The technology-led techMARK index is up 49.84 points at 1,814.28.