ISEQ in black as financials and Elan see positive trade

The ISEQ index of Irish shares was up 34.21 points to 7939.08 after morning trade today.

Bathroom products company Qualceram Shires saw its share price fall 3c to €1.25 after the company announced a pre-tax loss of €5.1m for 2005.

The group, which also includes the Selecta and Trent brands had made a profit of €5.85 for the previous year but set aside €6.1m to cover restructuring costs at its Langton plant in England.

Pharmaceutical company Elan, however, surged 13c to 11.95 after news that it and its partner Biogen Idec have resumed a safety study on their controversial MS drug Tysabri.

The companies had voluntarily suspended trials of the drug last year after two patients who had taken Tysabri died from a rare brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.

The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to sanction the re-introduction of the drug later this year following the unanimous recommendation of an advisory sub committee of the FDA.

Meanwhile, financial stocks were mostly in positive territory. AIB saw the biggest gain, up 15 points to €19.38. Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanent each saw gains of 10c, up to €15.15 and €19.45 respectively.

Anglo Irish Bank bucked the positive trend, falling 3c to €13.17.