ISEQ closes up 21.49 points

The ISEQ index of Irish shares closed up 21.49 points today to 5439.61.

Main movers included Elan, up 7 cents. Elan yesterday announced that it had completed the sale of its worldwide rights to Myobloc/Neurobloc injectable solution to Solstice Neurosciences, a newly-formed company focused on the development, manufacturing, sales and marketing of specialty biopharmaceutical products.

In the financials market, AIB was down a cent to €12.36, while Bank of Ireland rose a cent to €10.70.

Trading was busy on CRH stocks, though the share price finished unchanged at €18. The company announced yesterday that first-half profits are expected to be €100m ahead of figures for the same period last year, after the "normalising" of weather patterns in northen Europe and northern America.