ISEQ soars almost 70 points

The ISEQ climbed an impressive 67.87 points today to 7929.82, as most of the big names recorded gains.

Technology company Icon was the biggest winner, up €2.75 (7.3%) at €40.25.

Insurer FBD rose €1.95 (5.1%) to €40.15, following its announcement today that it had sold a portion of its land in Mijas, southern Spain.

Glass company South Wharf was up 20c (5.1%) at €4.10 when the market closed.

Irish Life and Permanent closed up 34c (1.9%) at €18.49, while Anglo Irish Bank was up 20c (1.5%) at €13.48.

Allied Irish Bank, the day’s busiest share, rose 10c to €20.00. A new pay structure for the bank’s staff was announced today.

Bank of Ireland was one of the day’s few fallers, closing down 8c at €15.00.

ISEQ 20 ETF shares closed up 20c (1.3%) at €15.83.

McInerney Holdings closed up 35c (2.9%) at €12.40 on the day that it announced a 26% increase in pre-tax profits.

Construction rival Kingspan was also up 35c (2.9%) at €12.25 at the end of the day.

Readymix was up 5c (2.2%) at €2.30 on the day that it named Roger Gonzalez as its new managing director, while CRH closed up 30c (1.1%) at €27.60.

Elan finished the day up 25c (2.2%) at €11.85.

Ryanair gained 9c (1.2%) to €7.62, as it denied it was involved with a Mexican start-up airline.

Kerry Group closed up 20c (1.1%) at €18.80.

Eircom slipped 1c to €2.20.

Independent News and Media was unchanged at €2.64, as APN, the Australian company in which it has a 40% stake, reported net profits of €92.6m for last year, a 16% increase on 2004.