ISEQ continues to gain
The ISEQ continued its upward trend today as it added 25.15 to 7455.23 in early trading.
There were modest gains across the board as building materials firm CRH shares rose 12c to €25.42 on the news that it expects pre-tax profits of more than €1.25bn for 2005.
In a trading statement, the company today said first half activity benefited from strong organic growth in American operations and this, combined with incremental contributions from 2004 and 2005 acquisitions resulted in a €64m increase in profit before tax to €383m.
In Ireland, CRH reported continuing strength in residential construction, recovery in commercial and industrial and ongoing investment in infrastructure.
It was a mostly positive morning for the financials. AIB and Anglo Irish were both up 7c to €18.37 and €12.89 respectively, while Bank of Ireland gained 8c to €13.66. Irish Life & Permanent was down again today however, shedding 8c to stand at €16.95.
Paddy Power fell back 5c from yesterday's highs to €12.60.
This morning's most traded stocks were CRH, Ryanair, C&C, Anglo Irish and Irish Life & Permanent.
