The placing of troubled property developer Liam Carroll’s stake in Irish Continental Group (ICG) into the market last week continue to buoy the ferry company on what was otherwise an extremely quiet day on the Dublin market.
ICG gained more than 48 cent on the day to close at €13.70.
Elsewhere there were "little pockets of demand for stocks perceived to be in better shape", one broker reported, but volumes were "anaemic" across the board. "There was a lack of news to get anything done," he said.
The signing of the bill to establish Nama by President Mary McAleese at the weekend had little impact on bank stocks, with volumes described by a broker as "pathetic". AIB closed up more than 2 per cent at €1.74, but only 467,000 shares in the company changed hands in Dublin. Bank of Ireland struggled to make headway, and traded up by less than 1 cent to finish pretty much flat on the day at €1.70.
Packaging giant Smurfit Kappa was up nearly 4 per cent - or 22 cent - at €5.95, but on light volume, while Paddy Power was up the bones of 2 per cent at €24.40.
Elsewhere, budget airline Ryanair marked up to a daily high of almost €2.92 at one point, but lost pretty much all of the ground made to close at just under €2.89.
Index heavywieght CRH was reasonably strong on the day, adding about 3.5 per cent to €17.70 on fairly light volume.
ACross Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 ended the day 2 per cent higher, Germany's DAX rose 2.4 per cent
and France's CAC-40 gained 2.3 per cent. The Iseq lagged behind, gaining just 1.4 per cent.
(Additional reporting: Reuters)