Building stocks boost ISEQ
The ISEQ index of Irish shares enjoyed a 58.26-point surge to 7873.78 today.
Building materials companies helped to keep the market buoyant. CRH - among the exchange's most traded stocks this morning - rose 23c to €28.63. Grafton rose 15c to €10.85 while Kingspan was up a more modest but still healthy 8c to €13.15.
The increases followed a positive buzz to the ISEQ in the form of a new survey from Deloitte, where more than 75% of builders providers predicted sales growth in the next 12 months, with around 40% estimating sales will increase by more than 10%.
Those surveyed identified a number of challenges ahead, however, including a possible skills gap among new employees and the potential saturation of the market.
There were gains too among financial stocks. Anglo Irish Bank led the charge with a 16c increase to €13.06. AIB followed, up 13c to €18.78. Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanent each saw 10c increases, to €14.55 and €20.75 respectively.
Stock in mining and exploration company Kenmare was up 1c to 68c after the company announced pre-tax profits of $4.7m (€3.8m) for 2005, up from $23,000 (€18,600) in 2004.
Small losses among a range of other stocks kept a cap on the positive outlook, but were not enough to hold back the overall surge into the black.
