Iseq: 4,606.63 (+106.67) Settlement date: August 20thTHE ISEQ index of Irish shares ended the week on a positive note as it enjoyed a second day of gains after Wednesday's sell-off.
Falling oil and commodity prices eased concerns over inflation and helped push the Irish market into positive territory yesterday, with the Iseq gaining 2.37 per cent or 106.67 points to 4,606.63 on light enough volumes.
Pharmaceutical company Elan was the star performer, jumping 18.16 per cent. With buyers returning to the stock following last week's sell-off, decent volumes of around 400,000 shares traded.Boosted by continued speculation over the sales of its drug delivery unit, Elan's share price closed at €8.98, a gain of €1.38.
DCC's announcement that it had agreed to pay €27.52 million to buy oil giant Chevron's UK distribution division was well received by the market with the stock gaining 43 cent to €15.98.
Banks generally enjoyed a positive day with AIB being the only exception as it underperformed, losing 10 cents to €8.65.
Anglo Irish Bank, which traded more than 3 per cent stronger at one stage, eased back by the close of business but was still 1.16 per cent stronger at €6.353. Bank of Ireland was marginally stronger as it added 2.3 cent to €6.07.
However, Irish Life Permanent enjoyed greater gains as it advanced more than 4 per cent, gaining 25 cents to €6.05.
Food stocks also gained on the day, with Glanbia more than 7 per cent better off at €4.398.
Among the construction stocks, CRH was one of the better performers as it picked up 9 cent to €18.25 on positive US sentiment.
However, Grafton ended the day more than 1 per cent weaker at €4.22, while Kingspan's share price fell 3.2 per cent to €6.77 and, despite posting a pretax loss of €9.6 million for the first six months of 2008, Readymix gained 1 cent to €0.70.
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