Grafton benefits as rising tide lifts most shares

Settlement Day: September 11th: The market continued its slow climb yesterday, adding 0.65 per cent as shares across Europe were lifted to their highest levels for the year.

Volumes were a touch lighter than in recent weeks, but investors continued to spread their interest across the board.

The star of the day was Grafton, which closed 25 cents higher at 5.00 on the back of excellent first-half numbers. About 1.3 million shares were traded in the firm, which is due for analyst upgrades today. Fellow merchanting stock, Heiton, also had a strong day, adding 16 cents to close at 3.43.

House-builder McInerney, which is due to report first-half numbers later this week, finished 23 cents stronger at €3.63.

Among financial stocks, AIB climbed 18 cents to €12.80 and Bank of Ireland closed unchanged at €10.59. The bank said yesterday that it bought back 400,000 shares on Friday at 10.68.

Anglo Irish strengthened its foothold above €9.00 by finishing seven cents higher at 9.10.

First Active, which exited takeover protection at the weekend, added five cents to close at 4.70. Irish Life and Permanent's rise was halted when it dropped five cents to €11.55.

Glanbia attracted some volume after a weekend newspaper tip, adding 10 cents to close at 1.95.

€Jurys Doyle, which will report results today, rose by 20 cents to 9.60. Kingspan closed nine cents stronger at 3.39, again in advance of releasing half-year numbers today.

Elsewhere, Datalex closed unchanged at 52 cents as volume remained high at 1.2 million shares. In London, Vodafone closed up up 2.3 per cent at 121½p sterling as Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to 142p from 134p.