The Irish Stock Exchange finished up 7.66 points at 5,811.95 following a relatively quiet trading day.

Trading in financial stocks was light following some strong activity in recent days. AIB retreated 10 cents on the day to €12.60 and Anglo Irish Bank Corporation closed 12 cents down at €3.03, possibly reflecting some profit-taking. Bank of Ireland advanced eight cents to €9.58.

CRH continued its strong growth on the back of a better outlook in the US, where it has many operations. It gained 28 cents to finish at €18.35.

Also up on the day were Power Leisure, which rose 15 cents to €2.90, Grafton, which climbed 25 cents to finish at €22.50 and Galen Holdings, which finished 16 cents up at €14.30.

Independent News & Media finished the day at €3.00, down two cents, following some heavy trading which saw some three million shares changing hands.

Eircom continued its downward trend, losing two cents to €2.90. Other losers on the day were Viridian, which lost 44 cents, finishing at €10.86, United Drug, which closed 20 cents down at €9.80, Kerry Group, slipping 38 cents to €13.22 and Arnotts, which closed 10 cents down at €6.75.

As the Irish Stock Exchange closed, Irish tech stocks were benefiting from a strong Nasdaq, which was up more than 5 per cent.

Trintech was trading 11.72 per cent stronger at $8.93 3/4, Iona had gained 8.83 per cent to trade at $70.97 1/2 and Baltimore was 7.95 per cent stronger at $11.87 5/8. Riverdeep had picked up 0.08 per cent to $20.

On the New York Stock Exchange, Elan was trading up 1.06 per cent at $53.81 1/4.