A near six per cent rise in CRH helped the Irish equity market to close nearly 1 per cent higher, bucking the European trend.
The building materials group added 82 cents to €14.65 amid relief on the news that Germany's Fresenius Medical Care had reached an out-of-court settlement in a US case involving asbestos claims. The news eased fears about multibillion dollar compensation payments relating to asbestos.
"It helped all stocks with a perceived exposure to asbestos," one trader said.
Bank of Ireland turned in another strong performance, adding 23 cents to €11.00, but Anglo Irish Bank managed a more modest five cent gain to €6.90, while AIB was down 10 cents to €14.20. Irish Life & Permanent also slipped back five cents to €11.20.
Elan added 25 cents to €2.60, helped by its admission to the Morgan Stanley International small-cap index, dealers said. But Ryanair gave up 18 cents to €7.70
Dunloe Ewart gained two cents to €0.48 after Mr Liam Carroll launched an offer for the company at 50 cents per share. He already has irrevocable acceptances in respect of more than 80 per cent of the shares.
However, other companies deemed to be in an offer period did not fare as well. Alphyra, which is still waiting for an offer from a management-led team, gave up 10 cents to €2.30, Riverdeep was off seven cents to €1.60, while on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt Conduit dropped three cents to €2.57.
Barlo, which announced that four directors had bought up 0.6 per cent of the company's shares, was one cent higher at €0.21.
In London, Vodafone acted as a drag on the FTSE 100, losing 2.2 per cent to close at 122 pence sterling amid profit-taking.
