Market Report

The ISEQ edged ahead slightly yesterday in the absence of any real driver yesterday, with the Martin Luther King Day holiday in the US acting as a natural dampener on trade.

The financials as a group finished more or less unchanged, with Anglo Irish Bank once again the star performer. The bank, which will issue a trading update at its a.g.m. on Friday, rose 20 cents to €13.80 on good volume. Bank of Ireland was notably busy as it clawed back early losses to close unchanged at €11.70. AIB was weaker on the day, with shares falling 10 cents to close at €13.52. Irish Life & Permanent went better, rising 11 cents to €11.70.

Outside the banks, McInerney rose five cents to €5.28 on the back of a strongly positive trading update. Heiton had another good day in the wake of last week's solid results. Shares rose 17 cents to €4.75. Fellow merchant, Grafton, gained two cents to close at €5.84.

CRH lost ground on relatively low volume, with shares dropping 20 cents to €17.25 as investors tried to work out how much benefit the company would draw from the slight weakening in the dollar against the euro.

Shares in Waterford Wedgwood fell one cent to 26 cents on volume of three million shares. The market had half-expected the firm to issue a trading update this week, but this now looks to be doubtful.

Gresham rose one cent to €1.23 on its first day of trade after Friday's takeover update.

Greencore broke last week's negative streak with an eight cent-jump to €3.45.

Ryanair attracted good interest despite traders' inability to hedge between the US-listed ADRs and Dublin-listed ordinary stock. Some 1.8 million shares changed hands before the airline closed at €7.59, up almost 3 per cent.

Elan responded to Friday's US biotech rally by climbing 10 cents to €6.75. United Drug was in good shape after last week's director share purchases, with shares jumping 18 cents to €2.55.