Markets maintain slow advance

International markets continued their recent minimal bounce yesterday as the US National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 4.3% in April, which was slightly ahead of consensus expectations.

This positive gave a small impetus to markets in what has been a difficult macro environment of late. The ISEQ index added 56.72 points to 3,087.81.

Bank stocks were varied as AIB shed 0.3c to close at 6.7c. Bank of Ireland remained steady at 8.7c, while Irish Life & Permanent gained 0.2c to 3.5c. FBD Holdings, gained 20c to €8.30.

CRH, which has a significant exposure to the US economy, was 53c, or 3.8%, better off at €14.35. Grafton Group and Kingspan followed suit, both adding 8c to finish the session at €3.14 and €7.38 respectively.

In other news, C&C increased 11.6c or 3.4% to €3.55.