Market maintains steady advance

The Iseq Index continued its upward momentum on the back of last week’s EU deal which could help lessen Ireland’s debt burden.

The benchmark index of Irish shares closed up 12.8 points to 3,161.4.

In the financial sector AIB and Bank of Ireland saw gains with the former rising 0.4c to 7.1c and the latter tacking on 0.7c to 10.7c.

Permanent TSB Group was unchanged at 2.7c, while FBD Holdings gained 10c to €8.05.

Elsewhere, other notable movers were business support services group DCC which climbed 51c to €18.80 following the acquisition by its healthcare division of Misona Manufacturing AB (Sweden) for €7.25m. Pharmaceutical company Elan shed 11.5c to €11.38 while bookmaker Paddy Power was 85c stronger at €52.40.