ISEQ up as Elan makes significant gains

The ISEQ index of shares continued to make gains today as it added 44.61 points to close at 7104.92.

Pharmaceutical giant Elan was the big success story of the day as it shot up 84c to close at €10.30.

Ryanair rose 4c to €7.30 today following its announcement of five new routes from the UK.

Ryanair will fly to Stansted to Balaton in Hungary, Lamezia and Parma in Italy, and Vitoria in Spain.

In addition, it will also start flights from London Luton to Brest in France. These are all new destinations and with Ryanair's first ever route to Hungary, the number of countries served by Ryanair rises to 22.

It was a mixed day for the financial heavyweights. Irish Life and Permenent plummeted 14c to €16.51, while Anglo Irish Bank fell 10c to €11.80. AIB slipped 8c to €17.97, while Bank of Ireland bucked the trend, rising 7c to €13.63.

Recruitment company CPL resources saw one of the largest increases of the day, jumping 38c to €3.05, over 14%.