Elan's recovery of almost $5 (€4.43) on the Nasdaq on Monday was largely responsible for yesterday's 0.7 per cent rise on the ISEQ as financial stocks continued to disappoint, taking the lead set by New York, which continued its reversal in early trading. Elan continued to perform well on the Nasdaq yesterday and was up by 6.5 cents to $58 (€51.34) by the close of the Irish bourse.

Among the Irish financials, only Bank of Ireland - up 35 cents to €18.30 (£14.41) - made gains. AIB was back five cents to €14.92 (£11.75) while Anglo Irish, whose interim pre-tax profits rose by 28 per cent to €34.9 million (£27.5 million), eased back three cents to €2.80 (£2.21).

One dealer said this reflected the "poor attitude" to financial stocks rather than any disappointment in results. Irish Life & Permanent too failed to excite and was back 10 cents to €13.60 (£10.71) partly reflecting a pent-up supply.

CRH was on a record high of €18.95 (£14.92), a rise of three cents, following the company's annual meeting where shareholders were told to expect another "year of progress" while the £219 million sale of Keyline to Travis Perkins is expected to be completed next month. Davy's said "there looks to be further upside" if the group continues its high level of acquisitions.

Among the other industrials, Smurfit was seven cents back at €2.58 (£2.03) but Grafton was up 50 cents to €20.00 (£15.75).

Viridian, which reported an 11.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £86.6 million sterling, was ahead of analysts' forecasts although it failed to register any movement in its share price in Dublin but its price in London rose by 2.75 per cent to £6.39 sterling (€9.28).