SOLID gains in London and Wall Street provided a firm foundation for a good day on the Dublin market, with industrial stocks benefiting most from the improved sentiment. Outside the leaders, the highlight was the move by James Crean to mop up as much of the Inishtech shares as possible before making a formal offer.
Davy went into the market for Inishtech shares first thing and quickly found sellers at the 550p price Crean offered. The whole process involved just three deals, by which time Crean had bought 3.6 million shares to take its Inishtech stake to just under 94 per cent. Crean itself was 2p weaker on 221p.
Among the leaders, CRH was once again the star and benefited from favourable comparison with the British building materials sector. With strong demand for the shares from Britain ahead of next week's results, CRH closed up 5p to a new high of 530p. Smurfit also saw some decent trading and the shares closed up 2p on 150p.
Other industrials in demand included Greencore which was up 2p on 580p, although Waterford Wedgwood eased back 1/2p to 61 1/2p after the heavy trading on Tuesday when the best part of four million shares changed hands.
Avonmore gained 5p to 135p and Clondalkin was also 5p stronger on 400p while IAWS moved 2 1/2p higher to 145p after a late trade. Other movers included Adare, up 3p to 420p, Fyffes, down 1p to 104p and Jurys, which closed up 5p on 200p. Readymix lost 5p to 90p while Waterford Foods gained 1p to 101p.
