The Dublin stock market started the week with a positive trading session today, although its gains were lower than the 3-4 per cent climbs posted by major European indices, including the FTSE 100, Dax and Cac.
The stocks that have been plunging the most of late enjoyed the biggest bounces in percentage terms, with Independent News & Media adding 6 cent to close at 25 cent, up 36 per cent, as the company issued a trading update in which it admitted it was finding it difficult to get an acceptable bid for its Australian media asset APN and would concentrate on selling non-strategic assets instead.
The group also noted that a third of its revenues are not derived from advertising.
AIB and Bank of Ireland also rose by large percentages after last week's volatility. Bank of Ireland surged 35 per cent to 56 cent, while AIB posted a gain of 32 per cent to 99 cent.
On a busy day for the pharmaceutical sector which saw Pfizer bid for Wyeth, Elan was one of the main losers on the Iseq index, dropping 7.8 per cent to €5.25. Elan has a partnership with Wyeth for the development and commercialisation of a drug for Alzheimer's, which Pfizer will now inherit.
After a poor trading update from builders' merchants Wolseley, its Irish-listed peer Grafton fell 6 per cent in trading, closing at a price of €1.40, as analysts noted that their current forecasts for the stock looked vulnerable given the worsening trend in the sector highlighted by Wolseley.
Elsewhere, drinks group C&C declined more than 7 per cent in trading to close at 85 cent, while Ryanair fell 2 per cent to €3.02 and CRH rose 2.7 per cent to €18.45.
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