Dublin and London-listed housebuilder Abbey delivered the performance of the day on the Irish market, boosted by a strong set of first-half results.
Abbey moved ahead by more than 9 per cent - or 40 cent - to finish the week at €4.80.
Although brokers dismissed earlier rumours of a takeover bid for Irish Life & Permanent by France’s Axa as unfounded, the stock continued its rally from Thursday, adding another 8.5 per cent, or 30 cent, to its price during today's session, bringing it to €3.80.
However one broker noted that institutional interest in bank stocks has stalled as international investors are sitting on the fence until they see whether the Government makes "sweeping cuts" in next Wednesday’s budget. “Foreign investors would have more confidence in Ireland if they [the Government] take the tough decisions,” he said. Both Bank of Ireland and AIB were down on the day at €1.64 and €1.56, a decline of 3.4 per cent and almost 2 per cent respectively.
The Iseq’s two largest components, CRH and Ryanair, enjoyed a strong session, and helped drive the index up almost 2 per cent.
CRH bounced 4.5 per cent to €18.40 on the back of positive US non-farm payroll data released today. Ryanair traded as high as €3.14 at one point but settled back to €3.07 by the close, still a gain on the day of more than 4 per cent.
Traders reported strong volume in pharmaceuticals company United Drug, with international investors coming into the pharmaceuticals name today. However although it hit a daily high of €2.20, the stock slipped back to finish down 1.7 per cent at €2.16.
Elsewhere in the pharmaceuticals sector, Icon came under a lot of pressure following the receipt of a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in relation to two clinical studies conducted between 2004 and 2006. The stock tumbled close to 8 per cent - or €1.25 - €15.05.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 closed up 9.36 points at 5,322.36, gaining 76.63 points since last weekend. Frankfurt's DAX index ended at 5817.65 points, up 47.3 or 0.82 per cent, adding 132.04 points in the week. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3846.62 points, up 47.51 or 1.25 per cent on the day, and rising 125.17 over the week.