Dublin report:Sellers were in short supply in the Irish market yesterday, pushing several stocks higher on small volumes.

DCC was one of those, as the support services group at last confirmed recent speculation by putting its Manor Park Homebuilders subsidiary up for sale.

The shares rose 68 cent, or 2.5 per cent, to close at €27.98 with only 190,000 units traded. Dealers said they weren't surprised at the small volume as there was very little stock available to buy.

"Now wouldn't be a time to be selling that stock," said one, pointing out that the price tag mooted for the property development group was in the region of €700 million. DCC has a 49 per cent stake in Manor Park, with the remainder being held by Joe Moran. The stock is up 6.5 per cent since last Thursday, when the speculation began.

The story was slightly different as far as CRH was concerned. The stock put in a stellar performance, rising €1.19, or 3.7 per cent, to close at a record of €33.20 on what dealers described as a very positive day for the sector. It was one of the largest single session gains by CRH in the last four years.

The sentiment was prompted by rumours that buyout group Cinven was considering a bid for UK building merchant Wolseley. Dublin dealers said they had expected the speculation to have more of an impact on Grafton, but this wasn't the case yesterday as Grafton's shares rose only eight cent, to €12.83. C&C was also busy, with 3.3 million shares changing hands. The stock, however, ended the day unchanged at €11.70 after falling as low as €11.54.

Elsewhere Paddy Power was another stock in short supply, rising 36 cent, or 2 per cent, to €18.50 with only 360,000 shares traded.