A buoyant Irish market closed at another high, driven by strong interest in Elan and financials. The ISEQ index was more than 2 per cent stronger at 6,293.38.

A good run by Elan in the US, where it rallied after the Irish market closed on the previous day, helped to push up its price on the ISEQ yesterday. It ended the day €3.32 stronger at €64.50. All financials put in a strong performance on decent volumes yesterday. Bank of Ireland jumped 46 cents to €11.50 with nearly 1.3 million shares changing hands.

AIB was 25 cents higher on €13.80 with nearly one million shares traded. Anglo Irish Bank gained six cents to close at €4.43.

Also enjoying a good run on the back of some strong British buy recommendations was Ryanair. It gained 30 cents to finish at €12.80 on light volumes.

CRH eased back a little on the gains made in the past week, reflecting some profit-taking after its strong run. It dropped 32 cents to €21.17 on decent volumes of more than 1.2 million shares.

One of the previous day's big movers, Heiton, gave back some of the gains it made to finish 12 cents weaker yesterday at €3.38.

Despite strong trading, with more than two million shares changing hands, Eircom closed the day just one cent stronger at €1.15

Green Property also had a good day, ending the day on €7.51, up eight cents. Kerry traded up on light volumes, gaining 23 cents to close at €13.29.

As the Irish market closed, Irish tech stocks were enjoying mixed fortunes on the Nasdaq. Trintech was 27.35 per cent stronger at $2.84, Iona had picked up 5.68 per cent to $42.80 and Riverdeep was 1.49 per cent ahead at $24.52. Baltimore was trading down at $2.18 and SmartForce was 0.59 per cent weaker at $35.29.