Mystery investor boosts Heiton shares late in day

Market Report: The second-liners were the centre of attention in Dublin yesterday, with a late trade in Heiton attracting particular market notice.

Settlement Day: May 24th

The purchase of 2.5 million shares by a mystery investor lifted shares in the building materials group by 6.4 per cent to €5.00. Grafton, which was seen as the most likely buyer, added 1.7 per cent to close at €6.00.

Elsewhere, C&C enjoyed a good start to its first official day of trade. Shares in the firm rose six cents to €2.31 on volume of almost 1.5 million shares.

Eircom, which has been added to the Dow Jones Stoxx Total Market Index and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index after a quarterly review, dropped two cents to €1.40.

United Drug, which has been added to the Total Market Index, fared better in the wake of Tuesday's solid results. Shares in the pharmaceutical supplier rose by 10 cents to €2.65. Elan was another star performer, climbing 4 per cent to €19.44 on news that it was seeking European regulatory approval for using its Antegren drug to treat Crohn's disease.

Kingspan was in solid form as it rose by six cents to €4.63. McInerney also did well, adding 1 per cent to close at €4.80. Positive sales figures from UK housebuilder, Persimmion, failed to help Abbey however, with shares in the firm dropping by 20 cents to €7.65. DCC gained ground as upgrades continued to trickle through on the back of Monday's full-year numbers. Shares in the business services group jumped 13 cents to €13.08.

The banks were mostly soggy, despite delivering upbeat presentations at a UK conference hosted by Davy on Tuesday. AIB finished unchanged at €11.93. Bank of Ireland added eight cents to end at €9.97, still below the key €10.00 level. Anglo Irish was the exception in the sector as it added 41 cents to close at €12.68.

Meanwhile a €750 million auction of 4.5 per cent 2020 Government bonds had been covered 2.9 times.