Market continues to gain ground

The Iseq Index continued to gain ground for a second consecutive day as investors across Europe awaited results of stress tests on Spanish banks designed to determinethe extent of bad loans across the banking sector.

The Irish Exchange closed just 5.9 points higher at 3278.3.

The financial sector had mixed results with both AIB and Permanent TSB slipping back into the red. The former dipped 0.7c to 5.3c while the latter was 0.1c behind at 2.9c. Bank of Ireland bucked the trend gaining 0.1c to 9.7c.

In construction, CRH fell back 11c to €15.00, Kingspan climbed 8.2c to €7.95, while Grafton Group added 4c to €3.39.

Elsewhere, exploration company Providence Resources strengthened by 5c to €8.45 after it reported pre-tax losses of €29.73m for the six months to the end of June. Revenues increased by 35.5% for the same period due to increased volumes and higher oil prices.