ISEQ ends week on the up

The ISEQ closed up 19 points this evening to 5100 on fairly low volume.

Iona was the biggest gainer today.

The technology stock was up 88c, or 17%, to €6.00.

Across Europe technology stocks rose after Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson reported strong quarterly profits, signaling a recovery in the industry.

Elsewhere Paddy Power added 20c to €7.60 and Ryanair was down 8c to €5.20.

Low-cost rival EasyJet reported a 12.3% rise in January passenger traffic today, while earlier this week rival Ryanair reported that its load factor dropped to 71%.

The banks overall performed well.

Anglo-Irish was the star, closing up nearly 3%, up 39c to €13.64. Bank of Ireland failed to recover earlier losses and closed down 18c to €11.29.

AIB was up 15c to €13.30 and Irish L&P closed up 7c to €13.47.

Gresham was up 2c to €1.22. The Group said this evening it has agreed to progress discussions with a consortium of investors on its revised approach for the Gresham group.

The revised approach is at an increased level of €1.45 and if an offer was made it would be conditional on receiving at least 80% acceptance.

The board and the consortium of investors intend to make an offer by the week commencing March 22.

Qualceram reversed recent gains, closing down 10c to €1.80 and Galen was steady at €11.55 ahead of announcing its Q1 results next Tuesday.

The Construction sector was mixed. CRH closed up 11c to €17.20. Heiton was up 5c to €4.70 and Housebuilder Abbey fell 15c to €7.65 as investors booked gains.