Banks drive market gains
Heavyweight AIB advanced a further 22c to €19.90 following its strong results. The company announced pre-tax profits of €1,706m. Bank of Ireland jumped 22c to €15.08. Anglo Irish and Irish Life and Permanent gained 19c and 16c and were €13.28 and €18.15 at the closing bell.
Construction giant CRH climbed 20c to €27.30. Grafton added 19c to finish up at €9.85. Kingspan gained 25c and closed at €11.90 on the day. McInerney which is due to issue its results today were unchanged at €12.05.
Pharmaceutical Elan gained 10c, crossing the line at €11.60. IAWS increased its share price by 32c to €14.07. The executive director of Babcock and Brown announced it would not pay any more than €2.20 per Eircom share. Eircom closed 1c higher at €2.21.
