Early surge for ISEQ

The ISEQ index of Irish shares surged into the black in early trading this morning, notching a rise of 80.80 points to 2,678.98 by 11.15am.

Leading the charge was building materials group CRH, which jumped 96c to 16.12 on foot of a trading statement revealing that despite a steep fall in profits for H1 09, the rate of profit decline eased substantially in the second quarter.