A quiet day's trading on the Dublin Stock Exchange saw a further modest rise in the ISEQ index ahead of an expected impact from new US employment figures due today.
One dealer said the market had been "unexciteable", following the pace set by the sluggish international markets, waiting for the impact of non-farm payroll figures on Wall Street.
Some trading in financials in the afternoon led to small gains. AIB made a 1p gain, closing at 574p, while Bank of Ireland closed a 1/2p up at 772 1/2p. Anglo Irish Bank remained unchanged at 94 1/2p after three deals.
Kingspan closed well at 1160p, up 60p. Gains were also made by Independent, up 5p to 415p, Greencore, up 2p to 322p, and Kenmare, down almost a halfpenny to 19p. Kerry remained unchanged at 725p.
Dealers said Smurfit and CRH continued to trade actively on the back of strong results announced this week. CRH closed 1p up on 753p, building on Wednesday's 10p gain, but Smurfit lost most of the previous day's gain, closing 3p downwards to 223p in the wake of some profit-taking.
Waterford Wedgwood, which also had buoyant results this week, failed to provoke buying, with only one deal at 85p sterling, a fractional rise.
Norwich Union closed up 1p to 380p, and Irish Life had four changes, peaking at 343p, but closing at its opening price of 340p. Irish Permanent closed down 3p to 627p.
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