Boosted by strong demand for most of the leaders, the Irish market bounded ahead to a new high and is in good shape for further gains, according to dealers.
Predictably, the latest developments at Eircom were the main talking point. Between Dublin and London more than seven million shares traded as the price gained another 8 cents to #3.23. At the close there were still strong bids for Eircom stock at #3.21 but not much stock was coming on offer to meet the demand.
The two big financial stocks made solid gains, with AIB up 20 cents on #11.90 while Bank of Ireland gained 26 cents to #8.84. There was no great volume in either of the bank shares, with most investors content to hold on to stock they believe will appreciate in the weeks ahead.
CRH has put its recent weak phase well and truly behind it. The share closed 37 cents higher on #17.48. Ryanair jumped 18 cents to #8.90 in thin trading while newcomer Datalex reversed Wednesday's losses to close 20 cents firmer on #7.05.
Biggest volume among the industrials was in Waterford Wedgwood, where 2.4 million shares traded as the price stood still on #1.41.
Most Irish technology shares were marginally firmer, but e-security group Trintech suffered a pummelling on the Neuer Markt, where the shares dropped #3.05 to #13.60. This leaves the shares not much above the #11 flotation price of September last year and an awful long way off the #75 high of last March.
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