Market Report:It was another day of gains, despite what dealers said were comparatively small amounts of shares changing hands in leading stocks, boosting hopes that the Irish market will continue to pick up.
The Iseq index of Irish shares closed over 106 points up at 7,241.12, with financial stocks once again leading the rally.
Anglo Irish gained 26.5 cent to close at €11.245, a further 2.41 per cent boost to its price at the end of a week where it began to recover some of the ground lost in recent months. Investors bought close to eight million shares in the bank.
Volumes in AIB were lighter, with around three million units traded. The stock added over 12 cent to end the day at €15.729.
With turnover of 3.2 million, slightly more shares in its rival Bank of Ireland were traded and the group gained almost 1 per cent to close 10.5 cent up at €10.975.
Outside the financial sector, Grafton and CRH, both of which have also seen their share price suffer recently, made solid gains.
CRH added 80 cent to close at €25.65, a gain of 3.22 per cent for the international building materials giant.
Grafton's price jumped almost 5 per cent or 28 cent to close at €6.02. One dealer said that a big order from one of the institutions helped boost the price.
Grafton was one of a number of Irish stocks to drop out of the MSCI index, a move that marked a trough in its price from which it has been recovering this week.
Another former MSCI-listed stock, drinks group C&C has been following a similar pattern and added over two cent yesterday to close at €4.20.
Almost five million shares were traded in Independent News & Media yesterday, but the stock closed just shy of half a cent down at €2.115 from €2.119.
