Kenmare advances on lacklustre day

A strong performance by Kenmare Resources was thrown into relief today against the backdrop of a lacklustre market.

The mining stock was more than 7 per cent ahead at 53.5p on the London Stock Exchange, where it has its primary listing.

The stock has been enjoying a decent run of late as prices of two minerals it produces - ilmenite and zircon - continue to rise, and investors anticipate estimate upgrades.

On the flipside, Petroneft Resource tumbled more than 23 per cent after issuing a disappointing operations update. It closed 10 cent down at 33 cent.

Elsewhere, building materials giant CRH was caught in a "tug of war" of conflicting data, a broker said. While the US Architecture Billing Index, a forward-looking indicator of non-residential activity, dropped in May, architectural glass business Apogee Enterprises reported better-than-expected first quarter results after US markets closed on Tuesday night.

The net impact for CRH was a fall of 1 per cent, or 18.5 cent, to €14.53, though it traded as high as €14.80 earlier in the session.

There was little enough activity in Smurfit Kappa, with the stock nudging ahead by just two cent to just under €7.89. However the paper and packaging group's UK peer DS Smith is due to report numbers tomorrow, and brokers expect this to provide Smurfit Kappa with direction.

Overall the Iseq index closed fractionally ahead at 2,907.60. Across Europe, Germany's DAX Index lost 0.1 per cent, while France's CAC 40 slid 0.2 per cent. The UK's FTSE 100 fell less than 0.1 per cent.