Dublin report:Pharmaceutical group Elan was again the star of the Irish market yesterday, rising 8 per cent and bringing its gain for the week to more than 25 per cent.

Dealers said that the stock continued to benefit from the news that its Alzheimer's drug was progressing to phase-three trials later this year and also from a raft of upgrades from US brokerages following on from that news. The shares closed €1.09 higher at €14.69.

Independent News & Media (IN&M) also had a good day, gaining 5.1 per cent, or 18 cent, to close at €3.69, boosted by an announcement that the company had bought 7.4 million of its own shares. In a statement to the stock exchange, IN&M said it had bought the shares, which are equal to almost 1 per cent of the total issued share capital, at €3.7678 per share - a total cost of about €27.5 million.

Dealers said that the purchase was particularly significant because this was the first large trade since telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien added to his stake. It also came on the day shareholders in Australian media group APN rejected IN&M's takeover offer. In total, 9.2 million shares in IN&M changed hands.

Elsewhere, CRH was also a significant mover, though in the opposite direction, as the building materials group gave up the gains it made on Thursday and closed 2.3 per cent, or 85 cent, lower at €36.19. Dealers could not pinpoint a reason for the decline but said that it was likely to be a result of some investors taking a bit of profit following Thursday's gains.

Meanwhile, Fyffes had a rocky day, initially recovering some of the ground it lost on Thursday by rising as much as 5.7 per cent, to 93 cent, before falling back to close 1.1 per cent lower at 87. The stock is down 11 per cent from where it ended last week.