London explosions fail to upset strong session

MARKET REPORT: Market jitters linked to more bombs in London did little to dampen business in Dublin yesterday, with the market ending almost 1 per cent stronger.

Price growth was spread fairly evenly across the board, although two of the financials did particularly well.

Anglo Irish had another excellent day, gaining 14 cent or 1.3 per cent to finish at €11.17. Dealers said it had done well out of index buying that came in reaction to this week's reweighting at Shell.

Irish Life & Permanent also strengthened, rising by 22 cent to €14.72 as the market was reassured by its update on the effect of IFRS.

In other financials, AIB added five cent to finish at €17.95, while Bank of Ireland was 10 cent stronger at €13.78.

CRH was firm too, climbing by 46 cent to €22.94 on decent volume. Analysts highlighted a positive second-quarter performance at MLM, a peer in the US.

Kingspan added 14 cent to close at €10.50 as it was reported that the company had completed a small acquisition in England. The Birmingham Post said the firm had bought West Midlands-based Albion Water Heaters for an undisclosed sum. Albion is said to have annual revenues of at least €20 million, making it very modest in the Kingspan context. Davy said the deal would be a suitable fit for Kingspan's environmental containers business.

Grafton gained ground too, rising by 12 cent to €9.02. The stock was boosted by an upbeat trading statement from BSS, a UK distributor of plumbing and heating equipment. C&C added three cent to close at €3.98. The lock-up period for its largest shareholder, BC Partners, expired on Wednesday but the market is not expecting an early exit.

Elan rose by 10 cent to €6.60 in advance of next week's second-quarter results. NCB is forecasting an operating loss of $94.7 million. IAWS was unchanged at €11.40.