It was about time that some good news emerged from the bombed-out technology sector and Trintech was the one to provide the much-needed tonic with second quarter results that pleased the market.

Trintech has fallen badly from grace over the past year and traded as low as €1.21 in recent weeks from a 52-week high of more than €39, so yesterday's 20 per cent rise to €1.70 should be seen in that context. Still the market was cheered by yesterday's results and in late trading on Nasdaq, the ADS's were up 28 cents on $1.58.

On the home market, the plethora of half-year results produced few surprises although Grafton's excellent figures are likely to produce some full-year upgrades. Grafton closed up 10 cents on €3.20 while Smurfit - after results in line with forecasts - was unchanged on €2.45. FBD was 12 cents higher on €4.45 and IFG gained 10 cents to €3.70 after their results.

Among the larger stocks , Elan was trading marginally lower in New York while CRH continued to lose ground ahead of results and lost another 35 cents to €19.15. Bank of Ireland lost fi ve cents to close at €10.75 while AIB was also five cents lower on €12.62.

Almost 3 million Eircom shares traded although the shares were unchanged on €1.34 ahead of the publication of the Valentia offer document on Friday. Gresham fell seven cents to €0.80 after warning of lower first half losses because of foot and mouth, a statement that also triggered some weakness in Jurys which lost 13 cents to €9.53.

Riverdeep eased three cents to €4.45 after its big gains on Tuesday while IAWS was 15 cents firmer on €8.35.