Overseas markets paused for breath yesterday after hefty gains over the past week, but the Irish market pushed ahead strongly - boosted by good gains for the financial shares and strong demand for index heavyweight Elan.
Elan - tipped by some as a possible bidder for the Bioglan dermatology business - jumped by €2.50 to €50 in Dublin. But the main action in Elan was in New York where more than two million shares had dealt by midday, by which time the shares were $1.40 higher on $43.90.
Bank of Ireland was once again the heaviest traded financial stock and more than 2.8 million shares traded as it gained 23 cent to €10.26. AIB jumped 36 cent to €11.25 while Anglo Irish - which reports full-year results next week - gained 17 cent to €3.84. First Active was 13 cent higher on €3.23 while Irish Life & Permanent added five cent to €12.25.
Among the industrials, CRH - which has hiked cement prices in Ireland despite the expected slowdown in the construction output - was 12 cent higher on €17.52. IWP was unchanged on €2 after half-year results were marginally ahead of forecasts.
On Nasdaq, good second-quarter results from Hibernia Foods boosted the stock which was trading 23 US cents higher on $4.93 by midday. Technology stocks were mixed and in London Baltimore lost 12 per cent to close 2 3/4p lower on 20p sterling with almost 11 million shares trading. Parthus fell 4 3/4p to 41p in turnover of 7.7 million shares while Iona was down more than 5 per cent on $16.80.
