ISEQ closes up with gains in Elan, CRH

The ISEQ in Dublin closed up 21 points to 5092 with gains in Elan and CRH.

MBO target Barlo closed up 1c to €0.42. It emerged today that Dermot Desmond increased his stake on Wednesday in the radiator and plastics company to 14.8%. Today the stock was busy with over 1.6m shares traded.

The financials closed under par, although AIB and BOI were fairly busy. AIB shed 5c to €12.22 with over 4m shares traded. Irish Life & Permanent closed unchanged at €13.10 with just over one million shares traded. The bank is releasing 2003 results next Wednesday.

Bank of Ireland slipped 12c to €10.53 with 3.02m shares traded and Anglo closed steady at €13.65.

Building giant CRH closed up 20c to €16.95, ahead of next week's results and on the news that in the US, where CRH has substantial business, new house sales for January beat forecasts.

Hotel group Jurys Doyle limited losses today closing down 3c to €10.12 after it slid over 10% yesterday as it posted pre-tax profits that fell to €45.84m in 2003 from €52.9m a year earlier.

Pharmaceutical company Elan added 35c to €11.35 as investors continued to buy in to the stock following its full year results earlier this week.