(BKIR.L) Bank of Ireland (Governor & Co of) Buy/Sell

DUBLIN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Shares in Ireland's two biggest banks rose by up to 10 percent on Friday after the lower house of parliament passed a law establishing a 54 billion euro ($80.19 billion) "bad bank" to the upper house and following share rises in the United States.
Investors have sold off Irish bank shares in recent weeks on concerns about the slow progress of the legislation, which still needs to pass through the upper house before returning to the lower house towards the end of next week for a final vote.
Some traders said strong performance of Irish banks' American Depository receipts (ADRs) in the United States after the close of business in Europe on Thursday was the main reason behind Friday's moves. Some also cited a newspaper report that Ireland's financial regulator has reiterated its ban on the short-selling of bank shares.
"The (short selling ban) reminder to the market comes after a particularly volatile period for the bank share prices," brokerage Bloxham said in a note.
Shares in Bank of Ireland traded 4.2 percent higher by 0830 GMT at 1.99 euros after an earlier high at 2.1 euros, while Allied Irish Banks rose 9.7 percent to 1.93 euros and the wider Irish market was 1.3 percent stronger.
(Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Hans Peters) ($1=.6734 Euro) Keywords: IRELAND BANKS/SHARES

(andras.gergely@reuters.com; +35315001518; Reuters Messaging: andras.gergely.reuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.