Shares in Bank of Ireland rallied strongly in late trading in Dublin after it announced details of a €3.4 billion fund-raising which will see the State's shareholding increase to 36%. The shares fell back initially after the news, but finished up 6.1% at €1.91.
Overall, the ISEQ was 37 points (1.1%) higher at 3,497, with other banks also gaining ground. AIB finished up 3.7% at €1.56, while Irish Life & Permanent added 4.2% to €3.25. Elan fell 3.3%, however, to €5.27.
Europe's main stock markets also closed higher amid talks over a bail-out of Greece with billions of euro in emergency loans from the EU and the IMF. London's FTSE rose 0.5% to 5,754, led by mining and banking shares, with RBS gaining 4% to 58p. The Paris CAC jumped 1.2% to 3,997, while the Frankfurt DAX also advanced by 1.2% to 6,332.
Wall Street markets were mixed, though there was a slight lift after upbeat results from equipment maker Caterpillar. The Dow Jones was 0.2% higher at 11,228, while the Nasdaq was flat at 2,531.
Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei jumped 2.3% to close at 11,166 while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed 1.6% higher at 21,587 after gains on Wall Street on Friday night.
