Market stays ahead for second day

SHARES in Dublin rose for the second consecutive day. At the closing bell, the ISEQ was up 14.21 points to 6240.57.

The financial stocks were mixed. Market leader AIB jumped 18c to €16.98 amid increasing speculation about the group’s possible entry into the EuroStoxx50 index in June. Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland gave up 5c to €12.47. Anglo-Irish was also weaker at €9.60, while Irish Life & Permanent was 13c stronger at €13.65.

In construction, CRH declined by 2c to €20.70. Kingspan was higher at €9.35 following its annual general meeting, where it said sales for the first four months of the year were well ahead. Elsewhere, Eircom dropped 7c to €1.84. The company yesterday announced pretax profits of €52 million for the year.