At a bad time for the banking sector, AIB managed to perform strongly, closing at 19.48, up 4.4% in the week. Bank of Ireland also rallied well, moving up 3% to close at 13.49.

Irish Continental was one of the big losers of the week, dropping 1.92% to close at 24.52 amid anticipation that the takeover battle surrounding the firm will finish in the acceptance of Aella's bid of 24 per share.

In the construction sector, CRH remained steady after some early gains in anticipation of its results due to be published on Wednesday, up 0.1% to finish at 30.04 European stocks had the biggest weekly gain since June on speculation the fallout from a global credit rout will be limited. Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker, and BHP Billiton, the biggest mining company, led advances by companies sensitive to economic growth. Vestas Wind Systems, the largest windmill maker, climbed the most in four years after saying profit surged on increasing demand for alternatives to fossil fuel.

"Economic data doesn't show yet that the financial crisis will have a negative impact on economic growth, " said Carsten Klude, who helps manage $20bn as head of investment strategies at MM Warburg & Co in Hamburg.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index rose 2.9% to 370.52, extending gains after US new home sales and durable goods orders topped economists' estimates. The Stoxx 50 gained 2.1% and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the euro region, climbed 2%.

National benchmarks advanced in all 18 western European markets.

Germany's DAX increased 1.8% and France's CAC 40 rallied 3.8%. The UK's FTSE 100 added 2.65.

Arcelor Mittal jumped 17%. Merrill Lynch raised its recommendation on the shares to 'buy' from 'neutral', saying "the global carbon steel environment is positive".

BHP Billiton added 12%.

The company reported an eighth consecutive record profit and said weakness in the US housing market shows no sign of hurting commodity demand in Asia and Europe.

Ves tas soared 22%, the biggest weekly gain since August 2003. The company said second-quarter net income climbed to 51m from 10m a year earlier and reiterated a forecast for sales to rise about 17% this year as it boosts production capacity in China and the US, two of the company's biggest growth markets.

"Stocks are attractive in the medium and in the long term, " said Ulrike Pfuhl, a Frankfurt-based portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, which has $1.1 trillion under management. "The fundamental data is positive."

Deutsche Bank dropped 3.9% to the lowest since 19 September 2006. Goldman Sachs cut its recommendation on the shares to 'neutral' from 'buy' and reduced its price estimate 21% to 108.1 apiece.

Milestones

YOU can bank on the Italians to be trend setters . . .even in industrial relations. Some 9,000 workers at IBM's Italian facility have announced they will picket the company's office in Second Life. The reason for striking? They want a bigger cut of the company's "big mountain of money".

Numbers

DUBLIN ISEQ 8327.39 Up 2.73% on week .
EUROPE DJ Stoxx 50 4238.63 Up 1.96% on week .
OIL Brent = $70.62 Up 1.73% .
LONDON IFTSE 6220.10 Up 2.57% on week .
NEW YORK Dow 13378.87 Up 2.29%
Nasdaq 2576.69 Up 2.86% .
EURO/DOLLAR 1=$1.3673 Down 1.43%

Equity movers

IRISH SHARES

GAINERS

Company Price + %
Siteserv 0.60 33.33
Fyffes 0.83 11.41
Trintech $4.20 11.26
Kenmare 0.83 10.67

LOSERS

Company Price - %
Finance Ireland 0.09 14.29
Boundary Capital 0.75 12.79
C&C 5.20 8.77
Norkom 1.80 5.76
DCC 20.50 2.05
TVC Holdings 1.275 1.92
Irish Continental 24.52 1.92
Aminex 0.275 1.79
AGI Therapeutics 1.41 1.40
Newcourt 1.50 0.66

INTERNATIONAL

GAINERS

Company Price + %
Babcock & Brown A$6.11 24.52
China Mobile HKD96.60 19.26
Apple $135.30 10.85
Toyota Y6660 7.59

LOSERS

Company Price - %
Barclays �6.11 4.46
Standard Life �2.97 2.70
Debenhams �1.20 2.62
JP Morgan Chase $45.95 2.25
Banco Santander 13.41 1.03
Coca Cola $54.00 0.83
Citigroup $48.50 0.64
BNP Paribas 77.71 0.63

The week ahead

MONDAY
UK public holiday US existing home sales ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet gives speech in Budapest

TUESDAY
US consumer confidence EZ money supply Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan publish monetary policy committee minutes Results: Blackrock International Land, CRH, Babcock & Brown Capital

WEDNESDAY
Irish national accounts (2006); agricultural prices Results: Irish Life & Permanent, Glanbia, FBD, Daimler Chrysler, Heineken, LogicaCMG, Novell, Antofagasta, Partygaming

THURSDAY
UK consumer credit; mortgage approvals US GDP German unemployment Results: Aer Lingus, UTV, Diageo, Veolia, Vislink

FRIDAY
Irish credit growth US personal income and spending, Chicago PMI EZ consumer prices, unemployment and business and consumer confidence Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke Speaks at Jackson Hole economic symposium on 'Housing, housing finance and monetary policy' Results: C&C, Bouygues, Vivendi

The week that was

SECTARIANISM COSTS NORTH �1.6BN A YEAR
A DELOITTE survey leaked last week estimated sectarianism and deep societal divisions costs Northern Ireland stg�1.5bn annually in missed opportunities.

The study managed to put a figure on what the dogs in the street have known for a long time: tinkering with health, education, security and other vital policy areas to satisfy the needs and norms of starkly segregated nationalist and unionist communities is a drain not only on the public purse, but also stymies equality of opportunity for all citizens.

The report estimated 30,000 jobs have been lost because of the Troubles, even though three times more money is spent on industrial development per capita in the North than in Britain. Deloitte researchers gloomily concluded that remedying the historical handicap of the North would be no quick fix.

"While we recognise the potential to respond positively to the challenge of a shared figure and to redefine service delivery, it must be recognised that the timeline for change and benefit realisation is not insignificant."

APPLE TO GET CUT OF IPHONE REVENUES
APPLE'S iPhone is coming to Europe and the company looks set to continue what it started in the US with AT&T by signing exclusive deals with European network operators.

Apple was reported to have signed up T-Mobile in Germany, Orange in France and O2 in the UK to distribute the phone. Leveraging the huge success of the iPod music player, Apple is believed to have secured revenue-sharing deals with all three operators, which will see it net 10% of all revenue generated from users of the phone.

Other mobile manufacturers will be paying close attention to these deals, particularly Nokia, which is responsible for some of the best-selling handsets of all time. Should Apple's strategy succeed, manufacturers will no doubt be clamouring for their own cut of revenues, which could see the margins of mobile operators squeezed in what is proving to be a very competitive environment.

On the other hand, the hype generated by any iPhone II is bound to be less than for the debut model, which means the operators may be in a better position to dictate terms. In the meantime, Apple will have gone a long way towards recouping the R&D costs of gaining a toehold in the mobile market.

ONE BOLD STEP FOR ADKIND ON THE INTERNET
THE evolution of the internet into a giant advertising hoarding took another inexorable step last week with news that video sharing website YouTube is to display ads on its film clips.

The semi-transparent adverts will be displayed across the lower fifth of the YouTube view box and videos will be paused if a viewer clicks on the ad.

It disappears after ten seconds if not selected.

This approach is presumably based on wise the decision that online ads are irritating so try and keep them as unobtrusive as possible.

Advertisers will pay $20 for each 1,000 views of their overlay promos which can be semantically linked to video content or even to users in certain geographical areas.

It remains to be seen how strict YouTube will be in policing these placements, as the last thing the major advertisers of this world want is to have their darling brands superimposed over moving images of cock fights, happy slapping or mock amputee porn.