The market closed the day up nearly 47 points at 5,944.16. Despite results in line with expectations and predictions that it was on target for further growth, Kerry dropped 32 cents to €13.40 in slim volumes.

First Active, which also reported results broadly in line with market expectations, picked up two cents to close at €2.50.

Financials put in a good day with the two big banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, recovering from the previous day's losses in reasonable volumes. AIB advanced 20 cents to €11.95 with more than one million shares changing hands, while B of I was 34 cents stronger at €10.48 on a volume of 1.5 million shares.

Anglo Irish Bank nudged ahead six cents to €3.99 in good volumes, while Irish Life & Permanent advanced 22 cents to €13.17.

Following the profit warning of earlier in the day, Marlborough dropped 10 cents to close the day at €1.10.

CRH had another good day, with the stock still attracting buyers and remaining well underpinned. It closed the day 17 cents stronger at €20.57.

As the market closed, most Irish high tech stocks were struggling on the Nasdaq. The biggest loser was Trintech, which was trading a massive 27.66 per cent down at $4.25 on the back of full-year results below market expectations. Baltimore had dropped 6.69 per cent to $7.41, while Iona was 4.21 per cent weaker at $52.62. Riverdeep had managed to buck the trend and was trading 2.15 per cent stronger at $23.75.

On the New York Stock Exchange, pharmaceuticals group Elan was 1.09 per cent weaker at $54.49.