THE Wall Street Journal has taken a sudden interest in Irish shares. First this week it was quoting Friends Provident - the Irish company which is part of the Europe wide Eureko group - in support of buying Smurfit shares.

Mr Pramit Ghose of Friends Provident, despite being a seller of most Irish shares - believes Smurfit shares have "a long way to go upward".

Then yesterday, the newspaper was reporting analysts' views that Bank of Ireland shares have some upside in the short term.